It's All Relative
by Teala373
Summary: Kind of AU: Dick & Tim return to Gotham as the case of Barbara's disappearance resurfaces. Heavily revised from the original. Completed.
1. Prologue

It's All Relative

Prologue: Random Memories and an Awkward Goodbye

By Teala373

Summary:Batman Beyond/Alternate Reality – What if Batman Beyond wasn't set as far in the future? What if Terry was somehow related to Bruce? Terry unwittingly reunites the broken bat family as they solve the mystery of Barbara Gordon's disappearance and Terry's own wayward family.

Author Notes:This is not set as far into the future as the show. Bruce is only in his late fifties. This is heavy revised from my original try with this fic and is only LOOSELY based on several continuities – inaccuracies are for dramatic purposes.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"_Barbara? Mr. Wayne invited us over to dinner Friday night. Would you like to go?"_

"_Sure! I'm always up for Alfred's cooking! I hope he makes chocolate cake for dessert!"_

"_I'm sure he will, but that's not the only reason we're going over. I want to introduce you to Mr. Wayne's ward."_

"_What's a ward?"_

"_Well, a ward is a young person who has, well let's say been adopted. Bruce took in a young boy, about your age, who lost his parents."_

"_Is it the boy from the circus?"_

"_Yes, honey."_

"_Is he going to live with Mr. Wayne forever?"_

"_That's the plan, for now. He's going to be in your class next fall and I thought it would be nice if you got to know him and…"_

"…_help him not be sad anymore?"_

"_Exactly. You're a little too smart for me, sometimes, you know that?"_

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Ted Kord no longer had any family or civilian friends close enough that would warrant a second funeral. He barely existed, except on paper. At the end, he was the head of I.T. for the Themyscerian embassy. He had very little contact with the other employees or vendors. His main contact was with the princess and the oracle.

That being his situation, there was no need for two funerals: one for regular citizens who knew him as Ted Kord and then one private ones for those who knew him as the Blue Beetle. There only had to be one private funeral.

It was a small funeral. Ted had mostly kept to himself in his short term with the Justice League. He worked on smaller, solo assignments. When he worked in a group, it was mostly as a driver and back up. For non-flying superheroes, he offered them transport in his custom flying vehicle, the bug, when the Javelin was otherwise occupied.

He had retired his alter ego early in the game due to a permanent knee injury. The pin allowed him to walk normally, but Wonder Woman had felt he shouldn't risk more serious damage. Wonder Woman was infamous for instigating resignation and termination of Justice League members. Ted Kord's had been a little different, though.

He was quiet, but sincere. He was good with computers and technology in general. Wonder Woman offered him a position at the Themescyran embassy. Normally, she didn't find alternatives for those asked to leave, regardless of circumstance. It was assumed she made this exception only because it fit her own purpose.

That's how Batman came to know more of Ted Kord. Ted's technological prowess attracted the attention of Barbara Gordon, whom Ted only knew as Oracle, the former Batgirl. They worked on technical assignments together over their systems and enjoyed talking shop. They had been working on files for a case of Wonder Woman's when Barbara disappeared. Oracle was declared permanently offline until further notice. Ted continued the assignment solo and it had cost him his life.

Batman stood silently among the other super heroes as Wonder Woman delivered a poignant eulogy. She was normally more straightforward. He found her display of such emotion odd. The only emotions he had ever really seen her display were anger and disgust. Except for one brief moment in time when he had known her on a more intimate level, everything else was stated matter-of-factly.

Maybe it was guilt.

He felt slightly uncomfortable. No one was surprised that he had come, but he knew his presence caused concern. Would he and Wonder Woman have an argument? She had been the most vocal in having him thrown out of the Justice League. He didn't want to argue with her. He only wanted to pay his respects. They didn't have anything to discuss. He was working on Barbara's disappearance. She had neatly rounded up Ted's murderers and closed the entire case. She had sent him all the case files in the event it somehow tied into Barbara's disappearance.

Ted Kord hadn't known that Oracle's real name was Barbara Gordon. He only knew that Oracle was the same person who had been Batgirl. Wonder Woman knew her identity as she knew Bruce's. Most Leaguers didn't know the others' identity. There were a few exceptions, but for the most part, it was an unofficial rule.

Only Batman and Wonder Woman knew the true identity of every single member. It wasn't for security purposes. It was just because they did. Batman needed to be in control. He didn't like to be surprised. He liked to know as much as he could. Apparently, so did Wonder Woman. She had tried to recruit Barbara away from him after she had him thrown out of the League. That had annoyed him.

"Tragedy about Ted," the Flash came up beside him, "his first time back in the field and he gets shot. Why would he go on such a dangerous run with no back up?"

"The file states that the run wasn't supposed to be dangerous. He was just picking up a computer disk from a contact. He hadn't told Wonder Woman about it. She claims he wasn't thinking clearly due to personal problems. He was also working without Oracle, his partner," came Batman's automatic reply.

"Yeah," Flash shifted from foot to foot as he stared at some imaginary point on the ground, "I, uh, heard he had a real thing for her… even though he had never met her face to face - only a handful of times as Batgirl. What, um, what happened to Oracle, anyway?"

Batman had to choose his next words carefully. He had to make sure not to link Oracle's disappearance with Barbara's. As the daughter of the former Gotham Police Commissioner and the long time girlfriend of Bruce Wayne's ward, her disappearance had attracted quite a bit of media attention.

"I am unaware of the reason for Oracle's departure."

Flash found a new imaginary spot to stare at. "She couldn't even drop you a line?"

"I didn't say she just up and vanished. I am saying that she stopped, but I don't know what her reasons are."

"So, she gave some sort of resignation?"

Batman narrowed his eyes from behind his mask. Sometimes Flash asked too many questions. "She didn't work for me. She worked with me."

Flash could tell from the tone of his voice he was becoming irritated. "I'm just making some small talk. I haven't seen you in a while and it's not like I can exactly ask you personal questions."

"You are asking me personal questions."

"Yeah, but they're about Batman, not your true identity," Flash sighed. He liked Batman, but always had a rough time talking to him, "it's not like I can ask you how the kids are or if you've been vacationing with Mrs. Batman."

It was now Batman's turn to sigh. "You've always been a little too social, Flash."

"Yeah, yeah, well if we were all like Wonder Woman, no one would be in the league any more because we'd all be kicking each other out."

Batman afforded himself a small smile.

"So anyway," Flash continued, finding an imaginary spot on the ground again, "I-I feel really bad about Ted. I mean, he was a great guy, but he was such a loner. He didn't really socialize much. Never knew of a girlfriend or any family. Wonder Woman said he didn't really have any friends – just kept to himself. All he did was work on his machines. He gets all smitten over Oracle then she goes AWOL and he gets shot. It's just… sad… Maybe I should've visited him or asked him for a ride in the bug. I should've been a better friend. He was a fellow Leaguer. I should have seen that he didn't have anyone…"

"He had Wonder Woman and Oracle. I also saw him on occasion."

"Yeah, but, he really didn't have much of a life," Flash began a round of general fidgeting, "All he did was maintain computers for the embassy. Totally lame. If I was more of a friend, I might have been able to help him with his assignment… provide him backup."

"You can't blame yourself, Flash."

"I know, I just... feel bad for him. I wish he could've enjoyed life more."

"Maybe he was perfectly content with the life he had."

"I dunno…"

Wonder Woman was making her way over to them. Batman braced himself for a round of scathing comments.

"Flash, would you excuse us? I would like to speak with Batman."

"Uh, sure thing. Later, Bats!" Speeding away in a red blur, Flash zipped up behind Superman and gave him bunny ears while he talked to Martian Manhunter.

"What can I do for you, Princess," Batman was careful with his tone. He wasn't in the mood for an argument.

The Princess Diana of Themyscyra, known also as Wonder Woman, had already put away whatever emotional feelings were present during the eulogy. She was back to her usual stoic self. "Aquaman contacted me just before the service saying he could not attend. He had an important matter to investigate."

"Is that so?" He wasn't sure why she was telling him this.

"Yes," she continued, "will you come with me to visit him when we have finished here?"

Batman eyed her suspiciously. "Why?" He no longer watched his tone. Her behavior was highly unusual.

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply before continuing. "He is testing some items he discovered to see if they are evidence."

"Evidence for what?" He didn't like where this was going.

She opened her eyes then and a brief flicker of emotion touched them. "They may belong to Barbara."

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"_Hey Babs! Wanna go check out the pond in the backyard and skip stones?"_

"_Sure! Anything is better than this."_

"_Seriously! I can't stand these stupid parties. I wish we didn't have to get dragged to them all the time."_

"_Is it still pretty mild outside, Dick?"_

"_Yeah…soooo… I heard you telling Veronica that you think Batman and Robin are pretty cool."_

"_Well, yeah, they are. I would love to have that kind of freedom."_

"_Freedom?"_

"_Yeah, the freedom to be able to jump and fly through the city like that… and the freedom to really make a difference without all that red tape my dad is always talking about. He's had to bail Montoya out of two suspensions that weren't her fault at all! She was doing the right thing and the federal investigators kept trying to take her badge away. Batman doesn't have to deal with that."_

"_Batman and Robin don't have to deal with that."_

"_I don't know too much about Robin. He just kind of showed up out of no where and he seems more behind the scenes."_

"_Robin is just as cool as Batman."_

"_I think Batman needs a chick sidekick, too."_

"_Batman has Robin! He doesn't need another sidekick!"_

"_I could use my gymnastics and be Batman's sidekick! He could teach me how to use the grappling hook and we could…"_

"_Do you… do you 'like' Batman? Because if you do, that is going to completely negate the whole reason I brought you out here."_

"_How would that negate us skipping stones?"_

"_I didn't bring you out here just to skip stones, Babs!"_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_Well, I… um… I came out here… to ask you…"_

"_Ask me what, Dick?"_

"_Ask you if… you want to…"_

"_Be your chick sidekick?"_

"_If that means 'girlfriend', than yes!"_

"_I don't know… I can be a pretty demanding sidekick."_

"_I think I may be up to the challenge."_

"_I require a lot of chocolate and cookies."_

"_Two of the four major food groups. I always have a healthy supply of both."_

"_And popcorn with every movie."_

"_Babs! It's me! I think that's pretty much a given."_

"_And I'm going to have to insist that you kiss me right now."_

"_I think I'm going to like these demands."_


	2. Chapter 1

It's All Relative

Chapter 1: Into the Princess's Den

By Teala373

"_If something should happen to me, I left instructions for you at the embassy"._

Warren had told her these words when they married. He reminded her every year sometime around their anniversary. When they moved to Gotham, the reminders became more frequent.

Gotham.

She hadn't wanted to move there. Something in her gut told her the city would swallow her whole. It was halfway there. Her husband, the only real person who had known who she was, had been murdered.

His death brought about dreams… strange dreams. She didn't know if they were just nightmares or true visions of her life before the accident. Whatever they were, they were adding to the stress that fractured a once very happy family. Her husband was gone and she barely knew her sons anymore.

Matt was easier. He would still listen to her and even talk to her a little, but he was confused and in denial. This was the second father he had lost in a short period of time. Though he put up a good front, he was too fragile. It had been easy to comfort him when he was younger, but now…

And then there was Terry. She felt as though she didn't know him anymore. Between school, his girlfriend and this mysterious new job as a corporate lackey, he was almost never home. The few times he graced them with his presence were less than favorable. He was a ghost of his former self and no matter how hard she tried to talk with him, there was nothing in return.

She was slowly losing all the men in her life…even her old friend T.J. wasn't around anymore. There was nothing left, except a trip to the embassy…

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"_You must be the elusive Batgirl that Killer Moth was rambling about."_

"_I have the information you need to prove the Commissioner's innocence and who the real criminal behind all this is, Batman."_

"_I appreciate the help, but I don't need another partner, I highly suggest that you consider this being your first and only appearance…Batgirl."_

"_Thanks, but don't count on it."_

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"May I help you?"

"Yes. My name is Mary McGuiness. I was given instruction to visit this specific embassy in the event of my husband's death. His name was…" she paused, then, the painful reminder of his death every time she had to say 'was'. Warren was no more. Everything about him 'was' related to him, not 'is' related to him. She silently choked back the painful sting of tears threatening her eyes. A lump fell from her throat to her stomach.

"Ma'am? Are you alright?" the receptionist asked politely.

"I… yes, I'm alright. I'm sorry. His name was Warren McGuiness. He said he left instructions for me here."

The receptionist nodded. "We have been expecting you, Mrs. McGuiness."

Mary's brow knotted slightly. The receptionist didn't seem fazed in the least and she didn't have to look up any sort of reference or instruction. She was indeed expected.

"We are sorry for your loss, Mrs. McGuiness. Please have a seat. Someone will be with you shortly." She pressed a button on her phone with one hand while gesturing to the seating area with her other.

Taking a seat, Mary began wondering exactly what was coming next. Maybe it had something to do with her past. She didn't like this, but she trusted Warren.

She had no choice but to trust Warren.

He had told her the time would come when she would remember the past, but he was reluctant to force it upon her. Truth be told, Mary didn't want to know her past. She had a bad feeling she wouldn't like the past. All the bed rest and the importance of that bed rest, after she had awoken from her accident had made her focus on the present. She had become so accustomed to it that any curiosity about the past ebbed away. It wasn't important. The present was important and then both the present and the future became important. The past was of no concern. It was always 'someday', but someday never came for seventeen years… until now.

A female soldier dressed in the traditional uniform of the embassy's nation came up to the receptionist desk. The receptionist rose to meet her. "Awaken the Princess. Tell her the Oracle is here."


	3. Chapter 2

It's All Relative

Chapter 2: The Past Resurfaces

By Teala373

Ace gave a great, whining yawn as he stretched and found a spot to rest on the floor. It wasn't at all exciting for him to watch his master and young apprentice repairing the damage Inque had caused to the bat suit. He was more interested in the roar of jet engines. The engines firing up meant the large bay doors would open. This was his time to shine, as he would stand guard to make sure no one snuck in… or out.

"I think we're making some progress," Terry called out over the bat server's main terminal, "I'm reading we're back on-line."

"Good. Try to get the auxiliary power up while I finish the hard wiring," Bruce Wayne lifted his soldering helmet and reexamined his work. Silver threads touched his raven hair and a few lines graced his stoic face, but other than that, he had hardly aged from his nights of flying through the city with partners at his side.

Terry lifted his eyes to glance at him and wondered if he would age as gracefully. Bruce certainly didn't look like a man that had to turn over his cowl for sitting at the main computer consol.

"Why did you really give up being Batman?"

The question caught Bruce slightly off guard. He completely removed his soldering helmet and gave Terry his full attention. "When you first came here, you said you could take the reins because you could do things I could not."

"Yeah, I remember. You were throwing in the towel because you had to use the kidnapper's gun to get Bunny out of there", Terry narrowed his eyes and lifted the corner of his mouth in a smirk, "but I'm not buying it. Surely one little mishap wasn't the reason you demoted yourself to my sidekick."

Bruce sighed. He didn't want to admit he needed Terry, so he told himself it was that he liked Terry. Terry was often some odd combination of Dick, Barbara and Tim. And there was something else. Bruce was never completely sure what it was. It was more than his wanting to help him after his father had been murdered. It was more than wanting to save him from dying recklessly in his quest for revenge. Bruce felt an odd connection to this boy. However, sometimes his boldness grated on his nerves.

"I'm going to need a point, McGuiness."

"Alright, alright", Terry held up his arms in mock surrender, "The point is that you're not that old, you're in good shape and you have all your wits about you. I know you have to use the cane for your knee, but the bat suit's kinetic enhancements kind of take care of that for you. After you told me about your background, I can understand how hard it was for you to pick up that gun, but I don't see it being enough to throw in the cowl."

It seemed like an eternity before Bruce took a seat in the large chair in front of the main computer consol and began speaking. "You're right, Terry, but I never told you that the Vreeland kidnapping incident was the entire reason I passed the cowl".

"Then what, then?" Bruce was an intimidating man, but Terry was unfazed by it – especially when he wanted information.

"The real reason I retired is because life caught up with me."

Terry knew better than to pry further. Bruce wasn't much for heart to heart talks. He had his fatherly moments, but talking about his own cape and cowl days were restricted to hard facts. Besides, Terry wasn't the new Batman for nothing. Lined up to the right of the original Batman suit were three others.

At some point, other people had worn them. One outfit was for a man shorter and slimmer than Bruce. One was clearly for a woman and the other for a young boy. There were others who had donned suits, but when Terry had met Bruce, he was alone. An occasional phone call or letter from the Fox family were the only contact Bruce seemed to receive outside of Wayne Corp. Whoever had worn those suits were now gone. Terry got the sense that there had been others as well, but he knew little more than the fate of John and Martha Wayne, which led Bruce to become Batman. He knew nothing else of people who had once been close to Bruce.

The shrill ring of the phone cut through the awkward silence. Terry went back to his work while Bruce answered the phone. He tried to concentrate on the terminal in front of him, but his ears were picking up Bruce's end of what appeared to be a very interesting conversation.

"Yes… yes, of course. I'll have a room waiting for you… I'm sure you'll enjoy meeting him. He's quite like you… I wouldn't go that far… No. I haven't heard anything further… we'll discuss it more when you return… Yes. I'll see you then… Good-bye."

Raising an eyebrow at Bruce as he returned, Terry inquired about the call.

"An old friend is returning."

"Sounds like a pretty close friend… which I find amusing because you seem to work pretty hard at having no friends."

Normally, Terry's bold sarcasm was met with a tight smirk, but this was the second time this evening that Bruce actually seemed bothered by it. Deep lines appeared on his brow as he turned his gaze and breathed a long, sad sigh

"He is… my son, you might say."

Stepping back in shock, Terry turned to follow Bruce's gaze towards the original Batman suit and the three mysterious suits lined next to it. As if in response, the light over the black and blue suit flickered angrily.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"_Dick, there's something I really need to talk to you about…"_

"_Babs, I'm sorry. I have to go. It's an emergency."_

"_Do you want me to go with you?"_

"_NO! No… it's… it's okay. I have to run. We'll talk later."_

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"So, are we going to define 'son' or am I going to have to look it all up myself?" Terry had originally told himself not to say anything about the matter for the rest of the evening and try again tomorrow, but his curiosity got the better of him.

As he worked on upgrading the system in the bat suit, questions and possible answers kept running through his mind. He felt a strong determination to learn more about Bruce Wayne's secrets. He didn't know why, it was just a strong urge that rose up inside him.

"He was my first ward," Bruce began as his fingers clicked away on the computer keys. He knew he would have to discuss it sooner or later, and it was better to tell him now before Dick appeared. "His parents had also been murdered… I took him in thinking I could help him…"

Terry set down the computer chip he had been inspecting and turned towards Bruce. Bruce, however, didn't turn to face him. At first, he only talked about Dick Grayson. He told him about his journey from an orphan, to Robin, to Nightwing…

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"_Are you okay, Dick? You've been so stressed…"_

"_Yeah, Babs, I'll be alright. I'm… uh… helping Bruce with a big project and it's really taking up all our time. I keep telling him that we shouldn't have to do everything…that there are other people out there that can help, but he won't listen. He never listens…."_

"_Is everything okay with you two?"_

"_No… yes… I don't know. It's hard. He's very driven… very focused… I want something else. I don't want all the same things anymore."_

"_What things?"_

"_Things like… Oh! My pager! Babs, I have to go! It's an emergency."_

"_Don't worry about it. Just go. We'll talk later."_


	4. Chapter 3

It's All Relative

Chapter 3: Dick and Barbara

By Teala373

"You and Dick just got into an argument and he quit as Robin?" Terry knew he was getting a heavily edited version, but he still felt like Bruce was holding back something crucial. "Just like that?"

"We… patched things up in our own silent way. He had grown and our relationship wasn't the same anymore. Batman and Robin weren't the same anymore. Evolving from Robin to Nightwing was an important step for him." Bruce was regretting his decision to be so open. He had only meant to talk about Dick.

Terry wasn't defiant, like Dick, nor was he obedient like Tim. He was like Barbara, who never backed down. "Why do I sense there was more to that argument?"

Bruce sighed. "There was more… There was much more…" He should have known. To talk about Dick was to talk about Dick and Barbara.

"You saw the other suits in the case." Bruce gestured towards the suit specifically designed for a female. "Her name was Barbara Gordon. She was the police commissioner's daughter. She was a little more level headed than Dick – not as quick to let her emotions run away with her."

"Were her parents murdered, too?" Terry began to think that was the official pre-requisite for wearing a bat suit.

Bruce shook his head. "No. She just wanted to protect her father. At least, that's how it started."

He began his tale on the origin of Batgirl.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"_Dick, I'm so glad you're here. There's something I really need to tell y…"_

"_Babs, I'm sorry. I just stopped over to tell you I can't make our date tonight. There's an emergency…"_

"_I hope Bruce is paying you enough to take care of all these emergencies at the office for him."_

"_Uh, yeah… sure. Well, gotta run."_

"_Wait! Are you okay?"_

"_Yeah. Fine. Never better. Bye!"_

"…"

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"I tried to warn Dick," Bruce stopped typing, but still didn't turn to face Terry, "I told him I knew Batgirl's identity, but he would have to discover it for himself. I tried to warn him about getting too close to Barbara with so many secrets between them. He wouldn't listen to me. He just thought I was being overprotective… I thought I was doing the right thing by not interfering. I didn't think it was my place. … I was so wrong."

"So you were never good with social situations? I thought that was only a recent thing." Terry regretted the words as soon they came out. Bruce turned and shot him a menacing look.

"It's not always easy to know what the right thing is to do with your children. I had already regretted exposing Dick to vigilantism. I thought the training would make him stronger, take away his pain. It was easier when he was younger. I could protect him, teach him. But then, he began to come into his own. I began to rely on him as a partner and I began to see I was leading him down my path – a path of loneliness and exile. I wanted something better for Dick. Barbara was that something better, but I pulled her down my path as well."

"Why?" Terry asked, "Why did you bring her in if you were already regretting your actions with Dick?"

Bruce sighed. "She wouldn't stop her Batgirl appearances. Jim Gordon was my friend and Barbara was the object of my son's affection. If something happened to her, I would never have forgiven myself. She never backed down to my threats when I tried to discourage her. If I didn't take her in and train her correctly, she would have… died long before she actually did…"

A long silence held in the air. "Is that the other reason Dick quit being Robin?"

"No… Barbara was part of the reason, but it wasn't her death… I had a hard time adjusting to Dick coming into his own and not being a boy anymore. I-I kept treating him like a child. I expected him to follow my orders, but he was having ideas of his own and we were getting along less and less. I didn't know how to fix it…"

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"_Dick, there's something I have to tell you… Dick? Dick, are you alright?"_

"_What? Oh… sorry, Babs. I-I just can't seem to concentrate. What were you saying?"_

"_I'm really worried about you. You've haven't been yourself. Is it school? Work?"_

"_No! It's Bruce!"_

"_Bruce? What do you mean?"_

"_He's so… so demanding… controlling… he doesn't understand! It has to end! It can't always go on like this!"_

"_What are you talking about?"_

"_Nothing… nothing… I shouldn't have said anything. I-I have to go!"_

"_Dick! Wait!"_

"_I'm sorry Babs… I have to go…"_

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"It then became more than Dick not listening to me. He wasn't listening to Barbara. She tried to keep everything together, but he kept straining their relationship. Just when it would get to a breaking point, he would put a band-aid over it."

Terry frowned. He didn't like this story. It reminded him too much of his own relationship with Dana. "What do you mean?" he asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"_Dick, I'm really worried about you! You can't go on like this… we can't go on like this."_

"_I know, Babs, I know. That's why I booked us reservations up on the coast."_

"_What?"_

"_I've got the whole weekend planned: dinner, dancing, the beach. It'll be great! Best of all, I'm not bringing my pager or my cell phone – no interruptions, no emergencies, no Bruce, no nothing. Just you and me."_

"_It sounds wonderful, but…"_

"_But, what? What's the matter?"_

"_Dick, there's something very important I really need to talk to you about. Every time I get the courage to bring it up to you, something happens…"_

"_I know Babs and I feel horrible about it. Let's go to the coast, relax, spend some time together and leave Gotham behind. When we get back, I promise we can talk. Right now, let's just forget… everything."_

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"Barbara was kidnapped by Mr, Freeze," Bruce continued. "When we went to rescue her… well, she didn't need much of rescuing. I thought for sure Dick was going to start piecing things together… He was so distracted, so unfocused and I didn't know how to help him. I just kept making it worse." It was hard for Bruce to make such a painful admission, but he could no longer justify them, and he was determined not to make the same mistakes with Terry. That meant having to admit his prior sins.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"_Barbara? This is a surprise. I didn't expect to see you up and about so soon after your unfortunate incident."_

"_I just have to keep moving on, it's over now… I understand you funded and coordinated the medical treatment for Nora Freise. I wish I could have helped her, but unfortunately, the only way for me to really do that was to let Mr. Freeze rip my organs out of my body while I was still alive. I was lucky Batman and Robin were there. I was able to escape my cell, but I wouldn't have been able to get off the oil rig on my own… but that's not what I came here to talk to you about, Bruce."_

"_Oh? I assumed you were looking for Dick."_

"_No. I need to talk to you… about Dick."_

"_Is something wrong?"_

"_Yes. These emergencies and all this tension between you two… it's got to stop. Dick is driving himself mad. I can't even talk to him about it because every time I do, some new emergency pops up and he takes off. What is it with you two?"_

"_Barbara, I think you should follow me. This way."_

"_W-Where do these stairs lead?"_

"_To the cave."_

"_Cave? What cave…you… you're Batman?"_

"_Yes, and Dick is Robin. This has been what all his emergencies and anger and frustration have been about. We don't always see eye to eye on our… business."_

"_I'm guessing you're telling me all this because you know I'm Batgirl."_

"_Yes, that and because you're right. Something is wrong with Dick. We just got into another argument and he took off. I-I can't get through to him the same way anymore. I need you to…"_

"_What's that?"_

"_The alarm."_

"_Go. I'll try to get a hold of Dick so he can meet you."_

"_No time. This looks serious. We'll discuss this later."_

"_Wait! If you're willing to accept me as a partner, I want to help."_

"_Suit up."_

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"I had only been secretly supplying Batgirl and giving her trainings outside the cave at that point. For the most part, we worked separately. Once in a while, our paths would cross. But, it was too risky to take on the Joker alone. I needed a partner. I couldn't always be Batman alone…" It was hard for Bruce to admit that, but it was the truth. "If I had known then what I know now... I would have done it all differently."

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"_Are you out of your mind? You could have been killed!"_

"_I wanted to help! The Joker was…"_

"_No, you think it was your idea! But it's not! It never is! It's always HIM, controlling and manipulating…"_

"_It was always my choice to be Batgirl. Batman tried several times to discourage me, but I was always defiant. This is what I have been trying to tell you…"_

"_Trying? How long has this been going on? Two years? Two years and you couldn't once spit it out?"_

"_I don't believe this! I tried over and over again, but you would never listen! You were always… well, you were always running off to be Robin – something you never even bothered to TRY to tell me!"_

"_Yeah, but you told Batman."_

"_I didn't. He knew."_

"_What! That-That's it! I've had it with all of you! You two deserve each other. Go ahead and keep cleansing the city, but do it without me! I quit!"_

"_ROBIN! Robin, wait!"_

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"Maybe I had been selfish. Maybe I hadn't helped Dick and Barbara for any other reasoning than my own, because I needed partners."

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"_Barbara, are you alright?"_

"_Yes, Bruce. I guess I'm just a little…"_

"… _rattled from your run-in with Nightwing?"_

"… _will it always be like this? So… hard?"_

"_I don't know, Barbara. I honestly don't know."_


	5. Chapter 4

It's All Relative

Chapter 4: Nightwing, Batgirl and the Second Robin

By Teal373

Memories of a life long since gone hung open in Dick Grayson's consciousness as he packed his bags. He wasn't sure how long he would be staying, but he needed to be prepared.

He stopped to gaze at the picture frames on his dresser. One was of him and his parents in their Flying Grayson costumes. One was a picture of him with Tim in front the grandfather clock in the den. The last frame was a picture of him and Barbara at the last society ball they had attended together.

Dick closed his eyes and swallowed the lump in his throat. After he had left Gotham, it had taken him a long time to build a new life. He had dated, and had even been married for a short time, but he couldn't find solace for the gaping wound in his heart. Nothing made the pain go away and now he was going back to the one place he never thought he could: Gotham.

He knew he owed Bruce more than just running out him and never looking back, but it was too hard. Just when his life had come together and everything had made sense, it all crashed down again.

But now, he had a chance and make it up to both Bruce and Tim. He should have been able to see past his own grief and help Tim, but he allowed him to slip away as well. Tim had once been a brother to him. None of it should have gone this far… but Barbara was a glue that had held them together.

Pursing his lips together, he closed the bag he had been packing. He would go and face his demons. He would go and do what he should have done a long time ago.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"_Barbara? What do you want?"_

"_Hello, Dick. I was wondering if I could talk to you for a moment?"_

"_Why? Did Bruce send you to check up on me?"_

"_No. Bruce is actually out of town so…"_

"_So you thought you could come sneak over here while he is away?"_

"_No! I came over here to talk to you about a case! I've never worked on a case this big on my own and since our paths keep crossing on it, I thought it might be nice to work together!"_

"_Sorry, but I work alone… and I don't think Bruce would like it very much if he knew you were here."_

"_What are you talking about?"_

"_You know what I'm talking about. You couldn't wait to push me right out of the picture so you could have Bruce to yourself. You've always had some kind of… thing for him."_

"_Is that what you think! You know, I came over here because I needed your help and because I… I thought we could… never mind. I don't know who you are anymore. Forget it. I'll just go and do what you did – throw everything away."_

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Terry continued to stand soundlessly in the cave, the repair to the bat suit long forgotten, as Bruce continued his tale.

"Barbara and I continued working together, but it wasn't the same. She was invaluable to me, but the wounds were slow to heal. Dick traveled for a while, going to Romania to learn more about his heritage, but he eventually came back… and became Nightwing, like I mentioned earlier. Barbara tried to reconnect with him, but he was still so angry."

Bruce paused to let out a tight sigh. "I wanted to help them. I only destroyed them."

Terry wanted to tell him not to beat himself up so much, but the words didn't come out.

"Dick eventually started to come around," Bruce continued, "He was so much more impulsive and less emotionally controlled than Barbara and I were. He could be quick to jump to conclusions, take things personally, hold grudges and get riled up. However, he was always there when it counted. He began to join us more on cases."

Something about this story was starting to bother Terry, but he wasn't sure what it was. He had remained silent through most of Bruce's words. It was rare for Bruce to be so open and he did want to learn more about his past. However, something began to churn over in his stomach. Something about all of this was hitting too close for him, but he couldn't make the pieces fit together.

If Bruce noted the effect of his story on Terry, he didn't show it. "While Dick began to come back more and more, Barbara began growing colder towards him. She was still hurt. I tried to talk to her, but I… I didn't really know what to do. My partner was upset with the son I was trying to reconnect with. I refereed between them as best as I could. And then Tim showed up…"

"Tim?" Terry didn't remember that name coming up earlier.

Bruce gestured towards the other suit in the case, the one meant for a small boy.

"Wait a minute," Terry was confused, "Isn't that Dick's first suit? As Robin?"

"I don't know where Dick's first suit is. It was a modification to his original Flying Grayson's uniform. I think he still has it – for sentimental purposes. This Robin costume is Tim's. Alfred made it against my wishes."

"Alfred?" Terry felt a sudden pity for the man before him. He had once been surrounded by people he had cared for. Now, he was alone and sorry for his previous actions. He wasn't as bitter as Terry had once believed.

"Yes. Alfred was my… he was a second father to me…"

"How did Tim become the second Robin?" Terry didn't want to talk about second fathers and he didn't think Bruce did, either.

"Batgirl and I saved him one night after his father was murdered. We brought him back to the cave for treatment. He awoke sooner than we anticipated and found his way upstairs. After he learned the truth, he asked to stay – he had nowhere to go. I thought I could take him in and avoid the mistakes I had made with Dick. Tim may have been more adventurous and mischievous than Dick was, but he was easier to deal with. We had more of an understanding. And he worked well with Barbara. They became very close. He also became a wedge between Dick and Barbara."

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"_Thanks for your help, Nightwing. You can go back to your lone wolf routine now. We can take it from here."_

"_We?"_

"_Yes, Robin and I."_

"_Robin?"_

"_Yes, our new partner. He's been tailing me as my back up. I didn't think it would be a good idea if you two met face to face."_

"_Wait a minute! There can't be a Robin. I'm…"_

"_You quit! Remember!... Now, if you'll excuse me…"_

"_Batgirl! Wait!"_

"_I'm busy, Nightwing. Just leave."_

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Terry walked over to stand beside Bruce. "I don't understand. How was Tim a wedge between Dick and Barbara."

There was a far away look in Bruce's eye. "Barbara was very protective of Tim. Tim had a hard life growing up in the Gotham slums. He had never known his mother and Barbara seemed to fill that role for him. The three of us began to settle into a little routine. Barbara spent more time at the manor, helping Tim with his studies and training. It drove Dick crazy. He felt we had moved on without him. He wanted to make amends with Barbara, but she only saw him as a threat to Tim. She thought he was upset that there was a new Robin, so she picked fights with Dick whenever she could to keep his focus off Tim. But Dick was persistent."

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"_Dick? What are you doing here?"_

"_I came to take you out for Valentine's Day. I… I thought we could talk and work some things out…"_

"_First of all, you had made it very clear to me several times that you don't want to work things out. Second, I already have a date. So, if you'll excuse me…"_

"_What! With who?"_

"_With someone that won't run away because things got too hard!"_

"_Barbara, please…"_

"_Please just leave."_

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"Dick kept trying and Barbara kept pushing him away, but he figured he could wear her down. He may have been threatened by Tim at first, but they grew to be something of brothers. I just stayed out of it all and concentrated more on my work with the Justice League. I had crossed paths with them many times, but they were always wary of my methods. They finally extended me an invitation. It was a way for me to contribute to a greater good and to have partners without sacrificing my own family. I began trying to work on getting Dick, Barbara and Tim on a path to a more normal life. Then, I began having problems…"

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"_Bruce? Is something wrong?"_

"_No, Barbara. I've just been having some problems with this case."_

"_Is it anything I can help you with?"_

"_No. The problem isn't with the case itself, but with the Justice League."_

"_Really? I thought you were on good terms with the League."_

"_Normally, I am. Even Superman and I have put our differences aside. I am primarily receiving opposition from Wonder Woman. I admit that my methods aren't always orthodox, but she seems to be trying to build up some sort of case against me. She contradicts me and argues with me every chance she can as well as disproving any evidence I bring forward…"_

"_Maybe she's upset because you dumped her after she helped you stop the demon gods."_

"_What happened between the Princess and I was for the best. She thought I could offer her something I couldn't. Besides, I was just a distraction for her from Superman."_

"_I think you were more than just a distraction and I think you like her, too."_

"_That's enough, Barbara."_

"_Your kids would be really tall."_

"_That's enough!"_


	6. Chapter 5

It's All Relative

Chapter 5: The End of the Bat Family

By Teala373

"Sir, might I suggest the express flight? If your final destination is Gotham, this will get you there in half the time."

"No, thank you," the customer ran a hand through his dark hair, "I need the extra time to relax."

"Very well, sir. Here are you tickets. Have a good journey, Mr. Drake."

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"I know this is hard for you," Terry voice had lowered and the biting edge was missing from it. "but what happened next? You mentioned Barbara died."

"It started when Commissioner Gordon died unexpectedly." There was no longer a need for Bruce to hide the past. It was soon all to be unearthed. " Barbara retired from being Batgirl and assisted us from the computer terminal. She became so skilled, she even farmed her services out to the League. She called herself Oracle. Only Wonder Woman knew her identity. Even after I was thrown out of the League, they continued using Oracle's services. Wonder Woman was very fond of her and often tried to get her to join the Justice League. Barbara considered it. She wanted to leave Gotham. It held too many painful memories, and Dick wouldn't stop trying to win her back."

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"_Hello?"_

"_Hey! I just got a note from Cartier's that you've been returning the jewelry I sent you!" _

"_Yes, Dick, and I've been donating all the flowers you've sent me to Gotham General. Stop sending me gifts!"_

"_I'll stop sending you gifts if you agree to go out to dinner with me."_

"…"

"_C'mon, Babs! Don't make me beg! We've been friends since we were seven! You can't just throw that away. I know I was a jerk, but I learned from my mistakes and I want to make it up to you."_

"_This is just as friends."_

"_Yeah, yeah, I know. You've got that big relationship with Jason Bard now."_

"_Yes, and he's not going to like this."_

"_He shouldn't. I plan on winning you back."_

"_Dick…"_

"…_but I'll settle with friends for right now."_

"_I'm hanging up on you."_

"_I'm picking you up at six o'clock tonight. Tell tall, dark and stupid he's taking a backseat for the evening."_

"_You're pushing it…"_

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"Barbara turned down Wonder Woman's offers. She wanted to ebb away from the vigilante business. She wanted to build a more normal, stable life. I asked her to train Tim on the computer systems and research before she made a permanent decision. That was about the time that she started working with Ted Kord more on League assignments."

"Ted Kord?"

"He was the Blue Beetle. He left the Justice League after he was injured. Because he was so good with technology, Wonder Woman gave him a position at the embassy. He became something of a second Oracle and worked with our Oracle frequently. He was very fond of her."

"He knew who you all were, too?"

"Supposedly not. Ted was very quiet and reserved, but sometimes talking through a computer gives you a mask, makes you bold. He was more open and almost flirtatious with Oracle as they worked together. Of course, he didn't have a chance as Dick became more persistent."

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"_Admit it, Babs, you're enjoying this."_

"_I never said I wasn't enjoying this."_

"_I know, but I want you to admit it."_

"_Alright, Dick. I am really enjoying ice skating in the new indoor rink park."_

"_And…."  
_

"_And, what?"_

"_And you are enjoying being with me."_

"_I suppose."_

"_You suppose?"_

"_Well, I have to really concentrate. God forbid I should take a serious fall. You might take off because things got too hard."_

"…_You-You're never going to forgive me… are you?"_

"_I don't know, Dick. Maybe if I see you feel as bad as I did when you left, I'll forgive you. Maybe if I see you crying hysterically every night when you're alone and using every ounce of your strength to put up a brave front around others, I'll forgive you…."_

"_Babs… Babs, I'm so sorry. I never wanted it to be this way. I couldn't think straight! I couldn't feel anything but my anger. I seriously wanted to work things out with Bruce. I did. When I saw you with him on that roof… I thought he had taken you away from me. I know that sounds stupid, but that's what I thought. I wanted to always be the one to protect you, but you didn't need me. You could protect yourself. You were independent enough to be his partner. I saw the last few years flash before my eyes in which I hadn't been there for you, hadn't been protecting you… and just when I thought I was going to go straighten everything out… he exchanges me for you… and I thought you had exchanged me for him…"_

"_I have no idea what I can even say to you."_

"_Tell me it was only me, Babs. Tell me it was only me you cared for."_

"_Grayson, you have a chip on your shoulder so big, I don't know if I can save you from it."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_When I was young, all the way until I was 15, I had a school girl crush on Batman. Like a celebrity crush. The first time you kissed me, it went away and never came back. And if it ever had any chance of resurfacing, finding out who he was definitely killed it. Bruce is my father's best friend. He's like an uncle or another father to me. I respect him, I won't deny that, and I do care about him, but it is the way you care about a family member, not a love interest. Honestly, I was looking forward to maybe having him as a father-in-law one day. I was always secure in my relationship to others. Romantically, there was only you, but you never believed me. Never. It makes me sick to think that you thought you could never turn your back on me, because if you did, I would jump in bed with your father. Worse yet, you seem to think Bruce would just start a relationship with me, knowing full well I was the girlfriend of his son and the daughter of his best friend. We're the two people that love you the most and all you think is that we can't wait to get rid of you so we can be with each other. Maybe Bruce can brush off your wayward thinking, but I can't! Do you have any idea how that makes me feel that you think so low of me?"_

"_Babs, I…"_

"_I would also like to point out that after you left, I still didn't make a play for Bruce. Instead, I still tried chasing after you. After several failed attempts, I dated someone that was NOT Bruce. So, to recap, there was NEVER, EVER anything between Bruce and I. Good thing you let something that wasn't an issue mess everything up…and they say Batman is the brains!" _

"_Alright! Alright! I'm an idiot! I am the lowest form of scum possible! On the evolutionary scale, I rate somewhere between a microwave and cheese!"_

"_That's 'a toaster oven and head cheese'."_

"_See? I can't even get obscure quotes right! I-I can't do much without you, Babs. I need you. I love you. I never stopped. I just pushed you away because I was angry and defensive… and a totally jerk."_

"_Yes, Dick… you are a jerk. A big jerk."_

"_There has to be SOMETHING I can do to make it up to you. Something. Anything!"_

"_Stand in the middle of the park with nothing but your underwear and sing 'I'm a Little Tea Pot'?"_

"_If that's what it takes."_

"_Chug three liters of Zesti on an empty stomach?"_

"_Anything, Babs."_

"_Admit that I am not going to leave you for someone else."_

"_Well… you can't leave me if you're not with me to begin with."_

"_Oh, get off it, Grayson! I hate ice skating! I'm only here to be around you. Stop being so insecure! We're a couple! We're back on! You are stuck with me!"_

"_Just like that?"_

"_I was serious about the 'I'm a Little Tea Pot' thing."_

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"Dick and Barbara fell back together and everything seemed fine. Barbara talked about quitting, but she never did. Then, Dick went out of town for a while. He told me he was going to buy a ring and purpose to Barbara, but wanted to visit an old friend first. While he was gone, Barbara was working on a big case with Ted. I helped her a little, but… something was different. Something had changed… " He pinched the bridge of his nose as he felt a headache coming on and lowered his head. "I made such a horrible mistake… I should have told Dick… but then she disappeared… and they found her car, her clothes, her purse… and pieces of her… in the river…"

Terry felt like someone had poured cold water over him. He wished he had never asked. He wished Bruce hadn't told him. He didn't like stories where people were hurt in car accidents…

"Dick left. He couldn't handle it. Tim took it hard and hung up his uniform. When Alfred died, Tim just left. I-I wasn't there for them. I didn't keep us together. I never wanted to admit that we were a family, because if we weren't a family, than we hadn't become a broken family…"

And then, there was silence. No more was said as both men went back to work on the bat suit.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

As Mary McGuiness waited in the hall of the embassy, scraps of memories washed over. She couldn't see faces, but she remembered odd bits of dialogue, none of which seemed to make any sense. She didn't recognize any of the voices, save her own. None of them were Warren's voices. The names that were referenced didn't make sense. Batman. Robin, Nightwing. Bruce. Dick. Tim. Barbara…

She tried to clear her head and concentrate on something else. She was jittery as it was and trying to understand the strange dialogues in her head weren't helping. She looked around, appreciating her surroundings for the first time since her arrival. The rich tapestries and ancient artwork reflected the heritage of the Amazon sisters, but as Mary stared at them, she began to realize this was not the first time she had seen them.

"Mrs. McGuiness?"

Jarred from her thoughts, Mary turned her head abruptly towards the Themescyran handmaiden who was addressing her. "Y-yes?"

"The princess will see you now."

Letting her body go into autopilot, Mary followed the handmaiden down a long hallway. Going to the see the princess meant going to see the superhero Wonder Woman. She began wondering what Warren's association with her was. She began to wonder what would happen next.

The hallway was long, lined with Mediterranean tiling and colorful tapestries depicting the glory of the Amazons. At it's end was a large golden statue of the goddess Artemis, patron to the Amazons. Mary stopped before it. She had seen this statue before. She had walked before it many times.

Suddenly, a vision flashed before her eyes. She saw herself walking around the statue, trying to get to the door directly behind it. As she passed, the room on the immediate right was open. A man was inside, sitting at a desk. He looked at her with piercing blue eyes that held a longing and a passion that were… familiar to her somehow. She wanted to go into the room and speak to him, but she was not allowed to address him. He was not to know who she was, but he seemed to know anyway…

"Mary?"

Blinking several times, Mary cleared the vision and focused on the intimidating woman who stood before her: Wonder Woman.

"My apologies, your highness," she wasn't quite sure if that was the appropriate way to address the woman before her, "I fear I am not quite myself."

The Princess's unemotional glance did not waver as she gestured for Mary to enter the door directly behind the statue. "This way, Mary… or should I say, Barbara."

Mary gasped softly. The voices from the past that had run in her head were calling her Barbara. She followed the Princess into her chambers, not sure if she was ready for what would be said to her.


	7. Chapter 6

It's All Relative

Chapter 6: Skeletons in the McGuiness Closet

By Teala373

Tim Drake drummed his fingers impatiently on his knees as he traveled. He felt badly that he had let so much time go by. He had never been good with time, but now he must start before more slipped away from him. He needed to confront his ghosts with Bruce and Dick, own up to the terrible mistake he had made, before he could hope to forge a relationship with his son.

His journey back to Gotham would take him two days. He would use the time to think about what he would say when he entered the manor again.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Mary sat stiffly in her chair and tried to take deep breaths as she listened to Wonder Woman's tale, but her mind kept wandering. She went over the facts in her head. Her name was Barbara Gordon. She was Batgirl and Oracle. Batman and his partners were too intense and had been trapping her in a life she didn't want to lead anymore. She had come to Wonder Woman for help. Wonder Woman had a partner named Ted Kord. Ted is how she met Warren – Warren worked for Ted's company, Kord, Inc. She wanted to leave the horrible life Batman had enslaved her in and live with Warren, but she was in a car accident. To protect her from Batman, Warren had her name changed to Mary. They moved and raised Terry away from Batman's reach.

"He would have corrupted your son, Terry. Him and the other one."

Mary tiled her head slightly to one side in confusion. "What other one?"

Wonder Woman grimaced. "Nightwing. He's just as bad as the bat… he was never a match for you. You deserved a better life. Warren worked hard to provide that for you."

Mary remained silent.

"Now that he is no longer here to protect you and your sons, I must take his stead," though the Amazon tried to be sympathetic towards the fragile woman before her, she was firm. She had to be. "I have a way to help you regain your memories. With your skills as both Batgirl and Oracle reinstated, you will be able to protect yourself and your sons. Though I would love for you to stay here with me, I insist that you leave Gotham. There is a new Batman, no doubt being puppeted by the old. He is still recruiting... still destroying lives."

Swallowing hard, Mary listened as Wonder Woman prepared her for the effects of the machine. She nodded an affirmation when asked if she was ready and she shook her head when asked if she had any questions. She couldn't speak. She only looked up into Wonder Woman's eyes as she lay down on the table connected to the machine.

Wonder Woman's eyes softened as gave a small smile. "It will be alright, my dear Oracle. I will not let him hurt you again."

The table slid into a tube shaped chamber. Lights began to turn on inside the chamber and a steady pulse began to beat, rippling through Mary's head. As her eyelids began to fall, she caught site of a tiny logo near one of the lights. Beneath it was printed 'Kord, Inc.'

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Terry closed the final panel on the bat suit. "There. This baby is ready for action again!" His bright smile slowly faded into a sad one as he began taking the suit off the work station and putting it away.

Bruce noted this and stood up from his chair. "Is everything alright, Terry?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. It's just," he sighed as his head dropped, "I was thinking that my dad would've been proud of me if he saw me working with those computer chips. That started me thinking about him…"

Closing his eyes, Bruce nodded his head. "I know Terry, I know.

"No.. no it's not his death… it's other things."

Bruce opened his eyes. Terry's head was still down. "What other things?"

"I loved my father. I did. And he was very, very wonderful to me." Terry's voice was becoming thick with emotion. "But… he was a man with many secrets. Now that he's gone… I'll never know…"

"Do you mean the project he was last working on?"

"No… no… I mean his relationship with my mother."

Deep lines appeared on Bruce's brow as he tried to understand what Terry was talking about. "I don't understand."

Terry sighed again. "I don't either. My family had always been a little different, but I didn't realize how different until… it was right before my father died. I never had a chance to ask him about it."

"Terry? Do you want to talk about it?"

Taking a seat, Terry cleared his throat. He had never made mention of any of this to anyone - not Dana, not Max, not Matt and especially not his mother. "My mom was in a bad car accident when she was pregnant with me. When she woke up in the hospital, she couldn't remember anything. My dad and the doctors had to tell her everything: what her name was, that she was married and even that she was pregnant. My mom used to think that was funny when she would tell me the story. She said it was scary at first, but she got used to it and my dad had been so wonderful in helping her. Her and my dad agreed to not concentrate on the past, only the present and he future. They never talked about the past."

Bruce frowned. Something about this was odd. "So are you concerned that you and your mother will know nothing of her past now that your father is gone?"

"In a way," Terry's head dropped again. "I – I overheard a phone conversation of my father's the day before he died. He was in his office… I was trying to sneak in because I was past curfew." Heavy emotion weighed on Terry's voice as he continued. "I don't know who he was talking to… but they were talking about how I wasn't his biological son."

That surprised Bruce. He had done a preliminary background check on Terry and remembered Warren being listed as the father on his birth records. Terry wasn't a liar and he was quick to separate fact from inference.

"The weirdest part is," Terry continued, "that my mom told me when she woke up after the accident she was pregnant with me and already married to my dad. So, if he's not my biological father, she cheated on him. That doesn't seem like her at all, but she may have been a different person before the accident. I don't know… but, I do know that the whole thing made me think back." He gave a wry laugh then. "They say hind sight is 20/20 and it's true. I look back and I see how my parents acted towards each other. At the time, it seemed like everything was fine, but now I see where there were problems…"

"What do you mean? Bruce probed gently.

Though Terry raised his head to look at Bruce, his eyes were very far away. "My dad was… very much in love with my mom, but also kind of possessive of her. My mom didn't seem to be as into him as he was into her. She seemed to love him because that's what she was told when she woke up from the accident… and then there's… that guy…"

"Terry?" Bruce had never seen Terry like this. He had obviously been suppressing these feelings and was having a hard time dealing with them. "Terry? What guy?"

Terry's eyes barely came back into focus as he continued. "There was some guy. I barely remember him. He was a friend of my mom's. They got close fast. My dad wasn't keen on him, I remember. Anyway, his wife died and he couldn't take care of Matt. That's how we came to adopt him. I think my mom keeps in touch with him, but I never saw him again. My mom was so quick to trust him. Maybe he knew her from before and wasn't telling her. Maybe he knows who my real dad is. Maybe he is my dad."

Bruce had known that Matt was adopted, but he was unaware who his biological parents are. "Terry, why don't you take the rest of the night off. It won't do you any good to do another patrol. Go rest. We can talk about it more another time."

Terry's head jerked slightly as his thoughts left him. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"

"It's alright," Bruce held up a hand to reassure him, "it's been a long night of reflecting. Go rest and we'll talk again."

"Thanks," Terry smiled sheepishly, "I feel a little better getting some of that out… and having a conversation with you where I'm not getting yelled at."

"It's not yelling. It's a stern tone."

Snorting, Terry packed up his bag and headed for the stairs. "Ask Dick that when he gets here and see what he says."


	8. Chapter 7

It's All Relative

Chapter 7: The Prodigal Son and a New Mystery Return

By Teala373

Waves and waves of memories washed over Mary McGuiness, showing her life as Barbara Gordon. A program run by the machine helped her mind balance the overload of information and adjust to it. She saw her father. She saw the scenes that the voices belonged to… and then she remembered. She remembered her fear for her unborn child when she learned of her pregnancy. She remembered going to Wonder Woman for advice… but then she remembered no more…

"Warren…" her voice trailed off. Her eyes became distant as she searched her memory for him.

"What is it?" Wonder Woman asked as the machine powered down and Mary's eyes fluttered open.

Mary stared blankly up at the ceiling. "Warren… I have no memory of Warren… I have no memory of our wedding, of the car accident…"

The Princess's eyebrows furrowed together. "Not all of your memories will return. That… may take time…"

"Terry isn't Warren's child…" Mary continued staring at the screen as pieces slowly feel into place. "When did Warren and I marry…"

"Do you remember the reason you were afraid for Terry?" came a stern voice.

"Yes."

"Warren always loved you and wanted to protect you. He agreed to take you in and help you raise your child as his own, in safety, away from the bat… They would come and feed you lies and take you away, take Terry away."

Mary focused her eyes on Wonder Woman's determined ones. She went to say something, but a calculation began to run in her head as memories connected together. Her head began to spin. She needed to go home.

"I-I have to go home… I need to find Terry…"

"You should rest."

"I'll rest at home. I just need to know where he is." She wasn't going to tell the Princess what she had deduced. She knew the Princess would help her, but this was something she had to do on her own.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Bruce did not like how his research on the McGuiness family was going. He couldn't find anything suspicious on either Warren or Mary McGuiness. Their records didn't indicate anything unusual. He began moving on towards trying to find Matt's biological parents.

He had a difficult time finding any information. He was beginning to think that the information had been erased. He cross-referenced hospital birth records with the date of Matt's birth and the area the McGuiness family. He weeded through hours of information until one distinct name leapt off the screen.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Matt watched his mother sit on the couch and stare angrily at a spot on the floor.

"Hey, Mom. Is everything okay?"

"Yes, honey," she continued to stare at the floor, "everything's fine."

"Um, is it okay if I stay over at Jason's tonight?"

"That's fine," she looked up at him suddenly. "Do you know where your brother is?"

"Terry?" Matt laughed. "He's either out with Dana or earning brownie points down at Wayne Tech."

Mary's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Wayne Tech…"

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Dick was surprised to find Bruce answering the front door of Wayne Manor. He thought for sure he would find Bruce in the bat cave.

"What's the special occasion?"

Bruce grinned and nodded in Ace's direction. Ace, for his part, didn't seem to need much of an introduction to Dick Grayson. He recognized his scent. It still lingered, albeit faintly, on several items in the house and cave.

Dick eyed the cane Bruce was using. "And what's with this? Did you finally snap a jump line?"

Evading the question, Bruce took a seat and motioned for Dick to do the same. "I'm glad you arrived first. I think I know what Tim wants to talk to us about."

"I've been fine. How are you?" Dick deadpanned as he sank into the couch.

"You haven't been fine and I know you don't want to talk about anything you've been doing since you left."

A corner of Dick's mouth went up. "Yeah, and I'm sure you know what all those things are. At least give me the dish on the new bat. Not all of us sit in front of a super computer till all hours of the night."

Bruce smiled to himself. He should have known better than to try and get right down to business.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Terry walked into his house to find the same scene his brother had witnessed earlier. "Mom?"

"Where have you been, Terry?"

He had never heard her voice quite so stern. She almost sounded like Bruce when he was at the height of his intimidation.

"I pulled a double shift at work and then I made a few stops on the way back… Are you okay?"

She continued staring at the floor. "I just had a very long day. Just go to bed."

He stopped mid-stride. Normally his mother wasn't so gloomy. "You sure?"

"Don't push your luck. Bed. Now."

Too tired to argue, he went to his room. His mind spun. He had never seen her like this before. She was normally had a positive disposition, even in dark situations. She was always a ray of light when there was none. He was concerned, but he would confront her when he had more time and strength.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

There were definitely awkward moments, but for the most part, the conversation went well. Bruce could see, though, that Dick was stressed. He showed him to his room and told him to relax. He could see the relief flood over his eldest son's features as he admitted he could use a nap.

Bruce took the opportunity to swiftly make his way back to the cave for further research. Had anyone been present, they would have thought he had been moving rather quickly for someone who had to rely on a cane.

He began opening several windows and toggling heavily between them as he began looking deeper into Terry's past.

Tim had contacted both him and Dick saying he needed to meet with them. He needed to put closure to the past so he could move forward.

Dick had confessed that he still wasn't completely over Barbara and was beginning to think he never would be. He admitted that she lived in his heart as though she were not really dead, but alive somewhere, waiting for him to find her.

Terry had told him his mother had woken up in a hospital bed after a car crash, pregnant and amnesic. He also told him that Warren wasn't his biological father.

Then there was what he had just learned about the biological parents of Matt McGuiness.

And then there was the case that refused to die. Barbara Gordon had been so fragile the last time he had seen her. She had left the manor and disappeared. Ted Kord died trying to finish the case they had been working on together. Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Flash helped him close the case of Barbara's death. Or did they?

Something told him that all of these things were relative.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

A woman stood over a grave in Gotham's public cemetery.

"I've buried you twice, my friend," she whispered towards the cold, gray stone, "but it shall not all be in vain."

Pausing to place lilies in the vase near the stone, she walked towards another grave that ironically was not very far away.

She smirked as she looked at the name engraved in the more bluish stone. "There's no one in there," she whispered into the wind.

From underneath the ornate sleeve cuffs of her coat, thick metal bracelets flashed.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

The first of the several windows Bruce opened were of the Themescyran embassy's digital security tapes. When Wonder Woman had initially showed them to him, she was unaware that he had copied them.

When he had first viewed them seventeen years ago, all he saw was that Barbara entered the embassy 30 minutes after he had last seen her. It synched with Wonder Woman's story. The second piece of the tape showed her leaving around 2:30 a.m. Wonder Woman had said she stayed several hours talking to her about a personal problem she had been having.

Bruce grimaced, knowing now what that problem was.

Sighing, he restarted the tape and began watching the time that passed in between when Barbara had entered and exited.

He almost missed the two men who entered slightly off camera. He hadn't seen them before because he hadn't been looking for them before. He was looking for them now. Because now, he trusted less than he had ever had before.

He then kept going over Barbara's exit from the embassy. He was trying to see if it was a doctored image. He tried to see if it was just a reversed image of her entering. He tried to see if the receptionist's movements skipped. He looked for anything that indicated Barbara had not left the embassy at 2:30.

Everything was matching up perfectly. He couldn't make it work. Closing his eyes, he racked his brain.

"_That's an unusual bracelet. Very ornate."_

"_Yes, it was a gift from Wonder Woman. Don't worry, I told her I still wasn't excepting her offer."_

The sudden memory ripped through Bruce's thoughts and he practically jumped as Barbara's voice rang in his head. Once receiving the bracelet, Barbara was never seen without it. She always wore and had been wearing it when he last saw her. So why didn't he remember seeing it in the video?

Going over the tapes again, he saw that all of Barbara's jewelry was missing. He theorized it had all been edited out because it would have been too difficult to reverse the images. The tape was altered. Barbara hadn't left the embassy at 2:30. Whenever she did leave it, Bruce doubted it was through the front door, or a door that was covered by a security camera.

Closing that window, he brought to the forefront a window containing the news article of Warren McGuiness' death. There were no public pictures of any McGuiness family members save for this one. Bruce had seen the article and the picture before, but just like with the tapes, he hadn't been looking for then what he was looking for now. He increased the size of the image and studied it intently.

The hair was styled and colored different. The glasses and what must be contacts to change the eye color from blue to brown changed the look of the face. Of course, it was the beard, streaked with gray, which was really throwing the look off. The average person wouldn't have seen it, but Bruce wasn't the average person.

He recognized Ted Kord.


	9. Chapter 8

It's All Relative

Chapter 8: Confessions in the Cave

By Teala373

Terry's note said he had gone "to work". Mrs. Todd called to say she wouldn't mind keeping Matt all weekend as he and Jason were having such a good time. Both her sons gone, Mary McGuiness, who was also the presumed dead Barbara Gordon, had the entire apartment to herself. She used the time to continue her methodical thoughts.

She had pulled out her laptop to conduct a little research of her own. She had seen that Dick was already in town and Tim was en route. It would make things a little more difficult, but not impossible.

She wondered how far into this Tim was.

She wondered how much Bruce knew.

She wondered if she could handle seeing Dick Grayson again…

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

It didn't go unnoticed by Bruce that Terry was unusually quiet. His silence, as he clicked away on the keyboard of the main computer, was a stark contrast to the very open, very sarcastic young man he was used to interacting with each night.

Bruce wondered if Terry felt out of place because of Dick. He wondered what Terry thought of Dick. He wondered how he would react to the truth. Most of all, he worried that it would all get much worse once Tim arrived.

"Nice work, kid," Dick remarked as he came to stand over Terry's shoulder. Terry was exactly as he expected: a quirky combination of them all with an extra edge that kept Bruce on his toes.

"Um… thanks." Terry felt incredibly odd around the man he was recently introduced to. There was something so familiar to him about Dick Grayson that made his bones ache, but he wasn't sure what it was. He wanted to talk to him and get to know him more, but he found himself tongue-tied and awkward.

He knew Bruce was noticing. He also knew Bruce was hiding something. Bruce may have been good at concealing information form his previous partners, but Terry was more than a partner. He was Batman.

Dick smiled down at Terry. "So, did the old man tell you much, or did you have to dig it up all on your own?"

Terry, feeling awkward again, turned away from Dick and began concentrating on the keyboard again. "We talked about it last night. I think I've got the gist of it."

Dick turned towards Bruce, his eyes glinting under the low lights in the cave. "I'm impressed with how well you've mastered this new skill."

"What new skill?" Bruce met his eldest son's eye, though he found it difficult to do, knowing what he did.

"Having actual conversations with people where you actually divulge information."

"Ace started tuning me out a long time ago. I needed a new audience."

Jet black eyebrows shot up. "And humor, too. Like I said, I'm impressed." His features resumed again to suggest mockery. "Was it the kid or old age that cracked you?"

Bruce's eyes steeled over and his tone was rough. "Guilt."

Dick had been prepared for a barrage of answers, but none of them were a very honest confession. He blinked several time, lost for words. Before he could come up with anything, Bruce excused himself to a more secluded part of the cave that held a kitchenette, bathroom and even a meditation area.

"None of it was his fault," Dick began softly, more to himself than to Terry, "even us leaving. It was just something that happened. No one could have stopped it. Once she was gone, the wheels were in motion."

Terry turned in his chair. "He's different now than I gather he used to be. I think he tells me things so that he doesn't make the same mistakes he did before."

"They weren't really mistakes… it's just that this sort of life… it doesn't exactly come with a manual."

Terry swallowed a lump inn his throat. "Yeah, tell me about it."

Clearing his throat, Dick regained his composure. "So, tell me what you know, kid. I'll fill in the holes for you. This may be a new Bruce, but he couldn't have told you everything."

Smiling thinly, Terry began recanting the conversation of the previous evening.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

For the first time in a long time, Tim Drake felt at ease. The Gotham air was surprisingly soothing to him. He felt like he was home. He felt like he was finally on the path to healing wounds long since opened.

He just wished he was bringing his surrogate father and brother better news. He wished he could tell them that he had found Barbara.

But he hadn't. Instead, he had found himself a mess – a mess that needed to be cleaned up.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Terry and Dick had been deep in conversation when an alert flashed across the screen. Hitting a button, Terry was dismayed to find that Inque had resurfaced and was up to her old tricks.

Bruce soon appeared as Terry was suiting up. "Freeze gun?"

"Check."

"Back-up Freeze gun?"

"Check."

"Modified batarangs?"

"Double check on that."

"And you're well aware of all your nearest water sources."

Terry threw a withering look before pulling on his cowl. "You're kidding, right?"

Dick snickered as the batmobile fired up and raced out of the cave. "That was a such a line I would say!" When he looked up at Brice's face, he felt his smile fall. "What's wrong?"

The unreadable emotion that had crossed Bruce's face was now gone. "Nothing."

"That was not 'nothing' and you know it. You're much more readable now than you were before."

"Don't push it, Dick." Bruce bit back as he headed for his chair to watch Terry's progress.

"But that's what I do best."

"We'll talk later," Bruce began patching into the batsuit's visual and audio devices.

Dick shrugged as he pulled up a chair alongside him. "If we don't actually talk about it later, then you haven't changed as much as I thought."

Bruce turned, focusing a hard glare. "What do want from me, Dick? I'm 59 years old, living in this house alone because the only thing I've ever been really good at is isolating myself!"

"Tim and I didn't leave because of you," Dick stated softly, "we left because things changed and we couldn't handle it."

"I should have been there for both of you more… I should have kept better tabs on Barbara. I shouldn't have let her go to the embassy…" Bruce rasped, letting his gaze falter.

"That's so typical," Dick huffed, cutting him off, "when something bad happens, your reaction is to control, to micromanage. It wasn't your fault."

"No," Bruce hung his head, "I was a fool… I could have stopped it all…"

Both men's heads snapped to attention as they heard voices. Batman had arrived on the scene and was exchanging the usual witty banter with Inque. The conversation was temporarily forgotten as they began concentrating on the most interesting and dangerous of all the newest Batman's foes.

The software that displayed Terry's transmission also recorded them. Bruce was able to take the video images and piece them together to create a complete, or near-complete, scope of the area. Bruce began looking over the visuals of the transmissions as the fight commenced.

"There's a fire extinguisher near the generator," Bruce noted into the microphone as he zoomed in and out of the image and matched it against a floor plan he had opened. The particular room Batman and Inque found themselves in was one of many robotics labs in a Fox subsidiary building.

Inque, still frustrated over her last battle with the bat, unleashed her unchecked fury as she manipulated her form over and over, quickly maneuvering around the room and getting several good hits in.

Most of the foes were one, maybe two, trick ponies. They weren't child's play, but they were more predictable and formulaic to take down. Inque had no definite patterns or fighting style. She was unique in her shape shifting and her attacks. She was lighting quick and very much in tune with how far she could push her own limits. She was also well aware of her weaknesses and always carefully watched Batman to make a move for anything water or ice related.

Dick squirmed and fidgeted beside Bruce. "This is nerve wracking! How do you just sit here and watch him like this?"

"Stun her with a batarang and move up to shoot the gun," Bruce thundered into the microphone as Batman desperately tried to avoid Inque's multi-tendriled attacks.

"Inque's the worst one," he then addressed Dick's questions as his fingers flew over the key boards, looking for a way to set off the room's sprinkler system, "she's very focused and experienced with using her abilities." He cursed as he discovered that there was no sprinkler system in the room. Because of all the expensive equipment, they had fire doors that sealed off the room and vents, containing the fire by cutting off oxygen instead.

Dick grimaced as Inque used a tendril to whip a batarang out of Batman's hands. "Eh, she's like some freaky cross between Catwoman and Clayface."

"Except worse." Bruce frowned as he began hacking into the computers and machines of the room Batman and Inque were in. Turning certain machines on, Inque became distracted and her attacks became less relentless as she began uncoiling her liquid form from an A.I. interface machine.

"Hey, you know what would be really déjà vu-ish?" Dick had to make a smart-ass comment to break the tension. Watching the battle between Batman and Inque was really unnerving him, for some reason.

Bruce grunted briefly, but otherwise didn't respond as he overrode another computer.

"If Inque was a disfigured actress turned jewel thief that had some weird pseudo relationship with Batman."

Bruce turned briefly to shoot Dick his most withering look.

Dick was unfazed. "She'd also have a weird affinity for some animal and have someone who stared in a movie with her to…"

"That's enough."

He opened his mouth to snap back, but though better of it and pursed his lips together, instead. After watching a few more brutal interactions between Batman and Inque, he decided he couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm going to give him some back-up."

Bruce paused in his order barking to half turn towards Dick. "Alright. Be careful."

Dick rolled his eyes as he quickly dressed in plain, black Kevlar suit that would hide his identity. He vaguely wondered why Bruce didn't offer him any resistance. After all, he could be rusty for all that Bruce knew. He smiled as he fired up the spare batmobile. 'Of course Bruce knows I'm not rusty,' he thought to himself, 'he always knows…'

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Mary had tried watching T.V. to give her aching mind and reeling emotions a break. When the story broke about Batman allegedly trying to capture the ever-elusive Inque, she knew the time for confrontation had come. There would be no well-formulated plan. She would just go in and do what she did best: never back down.

"We're now getting word that a second costumed vigilante has joined the scene and is apparently aiding Batman in his capture of Inque. It will be interesting to see what Commissioner Bard's comments will be when he discovers this new Batman has partners, just as the original Batman did."

"As you know, Commissioner Bard does not share the same sentiments as former Commissioner's Gordon and Montoya on working with the costumed vigilante's. The batsignal was taken down after Commissioner Montoya's murder, three years ago. Bard has repeatedly made his intensions very clear that he will not welcome vigilantism in this city, even though Batman appears to be the only person that can stop such formidable criminals, such as Inque."

Mary shut the T.V. off and stared blankly at it. She hadn't known that Montoya had been murdered. When they moved to Gotham, she had become very engrossed in a project with work and paid little attention to current events, thus she failed to know that Jason Bard was the new Commissioner. As an image of Jason appeared in her mind, so did another memory.

"_Don't sugar coat it, Barbara. Go ahead and tell me the real reason you're breaking this off!"_

"_Jason, I…"_

"_Let's stop kidding ourselves that you really wanted to make this work. You and I both know I was just a temporary fill-in until that snot-nosed Grayson stopped throwing his temper tantrum."_

"_That's not true and you…"_

"_I don't know why you and your father insist on wasting your time with Bruce Wayne and his ward that he insists in molding in his own image! I've never seen two such ungrateful, spoiled brats…"_

"_That's quite enough! If I knew you got so childish when you didn't get your way, I would have ended this before it began!"_

Jason hadn't been a temporary fill-in for Dick. She honestly meant to move forward and start a new life without someone who could give her a stable future. She did, however, leave him because of Dick. Dick had been her soul mate in every way. It hadn't taken him very long to work his way back in her heart.

She frowned. Dick couldn't really be her soul mate if she had to have run from him, too. It wasn't just Bruce she had run from, it was also Dick.

"Don't get sentimental," she spoke aloud to herself, "he's just as much a threat."

Throwing on a coat, she headed out into the night. One way or another, she was going to keep the promise she had made to her then unborn son before the accident.


	10. Chapter 9

It's All Relative

Chapter 9: Unexpected Visitors

By Teala373

"And just who are you supposed to be?" Batman asked the black-clad figure that he somehow immediately knew was Dick Grayson.

He had been surprised when the spare Batmobile had crashed in through the laboratory's glass ceiling, distracting Inque long enough for him to shoot the Freeze gun.

"I'm the guy who's saving your sorry ass," Dick bit back sarcastically with laughter in his voice. "Looks like you hyper-extended a few muscles, got a few nasty cuts and gained some well-expected bumps and bruises. I'd be surprised if all your ribs are in one piece."

"And scrapes," Batman groaned as Dick helped him into the Batmobile and programmed the other vehicle to return to the cave on autopilot, "you forgot the scrapes."

Dick smiled from beneath his cowl. It hadn't been hard for him to call someone other than Bruce 'Batman' or to accept that someone who wasn't Tim or himself was taking up the cowl. Terry just seemed very natural to him somehow.

"You did good, kid. The old man and I were watching and you've definitely got what it takes. Just relax and I'll take a look at you when we get back."

Batman smiled to himself as he settled in the passenger seat. He felt like he just had a bonding moment with Dick Grayson and, for some reason, he was very happy about that. He tried to analyze it on the ride back, but he couldn't come up with anything that made much sense.

"How do you usually do the drop off?" Dick asked, jerking his thumb towards the rear of the vehicle. The trunk of the batmobile had recently been fitted with a deep freeze feature for towing a captured Inque, as was the case now.

"You have to be careful with the Commissioner," Batman began sternly, "he's not too keen on vigilantes. Even though the police are not equipped to deal with Inque, he's pretty ungrateful."

Dick snorted. "Bard being a jack ass. What a surprise."

"Oh yeah… you told me had some thing with Barbara there…"

"It wasn't so much a 'thing' as it was an annoyance," the tight fit of the cloth mask allowed the visible lines of a scowl forming on Dick's face to show. "He thought I was some kind of bratty little kid in short pants. He didn't get what Babs and I had."

"How do you know?" Batman asked softly, sounding less like a costumed champion and more like a young boy needing fatherly advice.

"How do you know what, kid?"

"How do you know when you've found the right person?"

Though neither man could read the other's facial expressions well from beneath their cowls, Dick turned briefly towards the young man. "The typical answer is 'you just know', but I've found that love is when you know that the other person is your missing half. It's when you realize that all this time you haven't been whole, but only half filled and this person completes you by filling the empty space," he heaved a heavy sigh that seemed to draw from the depths of his soul. "When I married Helena, I had foolishly convinced myself that I was over Barbara's death and that Helena filled the space Babs had. She didn't. I had deluded myself. It happens. It's very hard to tell real love false love."

Batman was silent.

"I didn't really answer your question, did I?"

"No… no, you did. It's just that…" Batman struggled to find the words, "is it really easy to convince yourself that someone is your other half when they're not."

Dick laughed. "You're taking to the king of falling into false love. There was one too many ladies before, in between and after Babs. As Bruce says, I'm 'overly emotional and highly volatile', or something to that effect. I get carried away easy. I'm a lot better now than I was, though. "

Quickly changing the subject, the two began rehashing the night's events, pausing only to make a discreet drop-off at Commissioner Bard's window ledge.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"Just hold still, kid," Dick warned, "this is going to hurt for a second."

Gritting his teeth, Terry let a few yelps slip out as the painful sting of the antiseptic hit the open gash on his arm.

Emitting a small chuckle, Dick quickly dressed the wound. "Don't worry, Bruce is the only one who never yelped from antiseptic. I was the biggest baby in my day, I was even worse than Tim!" He laughed as the old memories came back to him of nights when he was on the table being aided.

"I wonder if villains will list that as my weakness: 'vile reaction to antiseptic'."

"Never let 'em know anything about you," Dick warned sternly. "I gave Freeze way too much to consider when he kidnapped Barbara. As both Robin and Dick Grayson, I tweaked and panicked and was obviously way more worried about her than I should have let on." He shook his head in embarrassment. "I never thought straight where that girl was concerned."

Terry began to say something, but quickly changed his mind.

"You know what you need?" Dick quickly swept away the soured mood with a lighter tone. "A chick partner. It wasn't so bad getting banged up on the days when Barbara tended to my wounds," he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, "and it wasn't so bad when she got banged up and I tended her wounds."

Terry laughed, "For now, I'll fly solo. I don't know if I can handle balancing a partner and Bruce buzzing in my ear." They both laughed at that. "One day, though, I'll walk away without quite so many battle wounds."

Though Dick knew from experience that walking away without a scratch was almost impossible, he put on a brave face. "Sure you will, kid. I'll be rooting for you, even if the old man isn't." They continued to laugh. "You know," a pensive look touched Dick's face, "you remind me a lot of when I was your age, only you aren't chasing after Barbara…" a far away look touched his eyes at the thought.

"No, but my girlfriend is going to eventually stop chasing after me," Terry sighed. "This has put a pretty big strain on our relationship."

Bruce walked towards the first aide station and couldn't help but to smile as he watched his first and recent apprentice interact. It gave him hope that maybe this time, there was a happy ending in sight. Hope wasn't something he was used to feeling, but after all these years, it was a welcome flood of emotions.

"You know, Terry, if you really care about your girlfriend, you should tell her. Don't be an idiot like I was and wait too long. I almost lost Babs the first time because I didn't appreciate her as much as I should have," that heavy sigh escaped him again. "It's hard to balance your two identities, but there is a way. Work hard at finding it. Don't lose the light that sees you through the darkness."

Terry nodded gravely, appreciating the heartfelt advice. He paused a moment before asking his next question. "You're still in love with Barbara after all this time, aren't you?"

Bringing a hand to his chin, Dick averted his eyes to an imaginary spot on the floor. "I've been in love with her for as long as I can remember," he began softly, "she was the one. She was special."

Terry began to feel slightly uneasy and shifted a bit. "I… I'm sorry…"

"Hey, it's okay," Dick quickly looked back up. For some reason, he didn't want Terry to feel bad. He had developed some odd, instant protectiveness for the young Batman that he didn't bother to question. "Just do me a favor and break the whole 'wear the cowl, have the curse' thing."

Knowing that there were many unhappy endings for the original Batman and his partners, Terry understood Dick's words and agreed.

"Bruce talks to you about things more because it's his way of trying to keep you from ending up like us. He wants something better for you. He'll never say anything as mushy as that, but that's his reasoning." He fixed a pointed look at the young man before him. "You're going to have to be stronger than we were. You can do it. You were meant to."

Both men's eyes locked and a moment passed between them where they spoke volumes through the silence.

Ace stood up then, sniffing the air and rumbling low in his throat. Bruce called him to his side and reassured him there was no need to attack, even when the door opened and a figure began walking down the steps.

Sniffing the air again, Ace began heeding his master's commands more. He recognized the scent of this new person as he had recognized Dick Grayson's.

"I knew I'd find you losers in the cave."

A slight nervousness overtook Bruce. Tim was earlier than he had expected. Things were about to get more complicated.

Leaving Terry's side, Dick bounded over to his estranged surrogate brother and hugged him hard. "You," he cried in joy, though he was trying to be stern, "have some serious explaining to do."

Tim Drake, who had changed from a young boy into a man laughed through his slight grimace. "You don't know the half of it, bro."

As Bruce walked over to Tim and greeted him, the wheels in the back of his mind began to turn. He was concerned as to how Dick was going to react once all the cards were out on the table.

Plastering on a devilish grin, Dick began attacking his little brother. "So, before you dropped off the face of the planet, you had met a girl. Tell me you disappeared because you had a happy ending, Tim. Tell me you didn't turn out all screwed up like the rest of us."

Tim's face fell. "Sorry Dick," he mumbled quietly, "but I think you'll find that I'm the most screwed up one of all."

Dick's face also fell as he began examining the somber and worried man before him. Before he or Bruce could respond, Tim suddenly straightened up and began fixating at something over Dick's shoulder.

"So, you're the infamous Tim Drake, the second Robin," Terry appeared and stood half behind Dick.

Tim nodded. "And you're the new Batman, I take it."

"That he is," Dick announced proudly. "He's good, too."

Terry cleared his throat. "I'm just going to clean up a bit. I'm sure you all have a lot to talk about and I should be getting back home."

The three men nodded as Terry began to head towards the small bathroom that contained a sink and shower stall. As he turned, he locked eyes with Tim Drake. There was something eerily familiar about him, but it was different than how he felt towards Dick.

He felt an instant connection to Dick, almost as if he had known him all his life. It was comfortable and natural. Time Drake, however, made him feel very defensive and threatened. He had seen him before, but he didn't know where or when.

Sensing something was wrong with the younger man, Dick went after Terry, pretending he wanted to double check the bandages.

Once they were both out of earshot, Tim turned towards Bruce. "Tell me that isn't Terry McGuiness."

Bruce didn't seem fazed by Tim's knowledge of the new Batman's identity. "Why?" he asked with that unattached, unemotional, unreadable way that revealed nothing.

Not knowing what he knew, Tim continued. "I know his mom. That's a lot of what I have to talk to you both about."

Stifling a sigh, Bruce nodded. "Yes. There is much to discuss."

Dick came back then. He wasn't completely satisfied that Terry was okay, but he decided to give him a little breathing room. "What'd I miss?"

Both Bruce and Tim looked at him with blank expressions.

"What?" Dick asked innocently. "Is something coming out of my nose?"

Under normal circumstances, Tim would have laughed, but these weren't normal circumstances. "Dick… there's something that you should know about where I've been for the last several years."

Ace picked his head up.

"Tim, you don't have to explain yourself," Dick began sympathetically. "Let's just move forward…"

"Dick!" Tim interjected, "I was chasing after a woman that I thought was Barbara!"

Dick stared at Tim as though he had just struck him in the face.

Ace began sniffing the air as his ears turned, straining to hear a distant sound.

"Maybe we should sit down," Bruce suggested as Dick's right eye began to twitch slightly.

"What do you mean you were chasing after a woman you thought was Barbara?" Dick's face began to clench.

Ace started whining softly.

"Right after Cass and I started dating, I met this woman and I thought she might be an amnesic Babs," Tim started babbling as he saw Dick begin to grow upset.

Bruce tried again to suggest they sit down, but no one seemed to hear him.

"You had a lead on Barbara and you never told me?" Dick practically yelled as his face began to twist with emotion.

Terry had gotten as far as washing his hands when he heard the rising voices. Quickly jumping into a pair of jeans and pulling an old t-shirt over his head, he headed over to where the three men were standing. But he wasn't paying attention to what they were saying because as he approached, he noticed Ace's behavior.

"Listen, Dick, you don't understand," Tim continued.

Dick, for his part, was trying very hard to control his emotions. "I shouldn't be surprised. After all, you two always were keeping secrets from me." He wasn't necessarily doing a good job.

"What is it, Ace?" Terry asked as he walked over to the dog and scratched him behind his ears. Ace looked at him and whined as he continued sniffing the air.

Bruce looked at Ace, then looked up the cave stairs. "Alright, that's enough," he stated in his most authoritative Batman voice.

His sons ignored him.

"What secrets?" A high pitch hit Tim's voice as he stared at Dick in disbelief.

Dick narrowed his eyes. "You and Babs always had those stupid inside jokes and whenever I would ask either one of you about…"

"Those aren't secrets!" Tim shot back, "They're inside jokes! If you're not there when the joke was made, you can't be in on the inside joke! You know that!"

Ace barked.

Bruce grimaced.

"Hey!" Terry shouted, causing Dick and Tim to break eye contact. "Someone's upstairs!" Not bothering to wait for a response, he tore up the stairs.

"Terry!" Bruce called, grabbing Ace's collar and restraining him.

Dick, feeling another burst of protectiveness for Terry, ran up the stairs after him.

Tim turned towards Bruce. "What's going on?"

"Normally Ace isn't so docile in recognizing another presence. Unless I give him a command, he attacks right away."

Tim gave Bruce a skeptical look. "So why was he just acting agitated and on edge now? Like when I came in?"

"He didn't seem to have a big problem with Dick, either. It's because he recognized both of your scents. They still linger on items in here. I met Dick at the door not knowing exactly how Ace would react. When I saw he did recognize the scents, I decided you would be okay," he paused to see if Tim was catching on to his meaning.

Tim swung his neck towards the stairs, almost as if he meant to go up them. But he stayed rooted to his spot. "Is Dick still good at making a bad situation worse?"

"Funny. I was under the impression that torch was passed to you."

Turning back towards Bruce, Tim locked eyes with him. "So you do know."

Ace wriggled free of Bruce's grip and bounded up the stairs. Bruce sighed. "I hope you are prepared for your brother's reaction."

"I just didn't want to give him the same false hope I had given myself," he hung his head. "I'm glad I didn't. You must have seen the test results. It's not her."

"Then why is Ace picking up her scent?"

Knotting his forehead, Tim released a tight sigh. "I may not be the world's greatest detective, but I'm not exactly a gumshoe, either. Nothing matched. I wanted her to be Babs, but she's not. Ace must have picked up her scent on Terry."

Bruce scowled. "That's because Barbara's information was altered in the public databases. Someone went through an awful lot of trouble to hide her. And now, she's here. I'm guessing she doesn't have amnesia anymore."

Shocked, Tim took a step back.

Bruce began walking up the stairs. Tim took a moment to compose himself and then mutely followed. He had been so sure that Mary wasn't Barbara.

This changed everything.


	11. Chapter 10

It's All Relative

Chapter 10: Disastrous Homecoming

By Teala373

When Bruce reached the last step and walked into the den, he wasn't surprised at the scene that lay before him. He had to remain calm and be the voice of reason.

Tim was confused. He had been throughout his investigation. It had been a devastating blow to him when he concluded that Mary was not Barbara. He was furious with himself for making such a horrid error.

'Had I been wrong to think they weren't one and the same,' he thought as he watched the scene unfold.

Terry found himself rooted to the spot he had skidded to a stop in. His eyes darted back and forth between the two figures in front of him. They were staring at each other very intently. In Terry's mind, this should be the first time either had seen the other, but they weren't acting like it.

Dick was shocked. He was ecstatic and pained, confused and enraged. He was so many different emotions that his spinning mind eventually just started shutting down.

Mary McGuiness, the woman who had recently discovered she was in fact Barbara Gordon, stood defiantly, masking her fear and apprehension.

Ace sat back on his haunches, watching all the players carefully. Though by their scents, he didn't deem any of them a threat, he was picking up on the sizzling tension in the air.

"I've come for my son," she announced, more to Bruce than to anyone else, yet her eyes stayed locked with Dick's.

Clearing his throat, Bruce stepped forward. "Perhaps we should all sit down and discuss this."

"There's nothing to discuss," came a cold reply.

Terry swallowed a lump in his throat. "Mom? What's going on?"

She noted the strange emotion that briefly flickered across Dick's face when Terry had addressed her. She tore her eyes from his and looked at her son.

"You were never meant to come here," her voice fell low, losing the hardened edge, "the irony of it all…"

Terry shook his head slightly, trying to make the surreality of the moment go away. "What are you talking about?"

Her eyes steeled slightly. "My memories have… been reinstated. I remember who I was and then realized who you had become."

"Wait, wait," Terry held out his hands in a defensive gesture, "you mean you don't have amnesia anymore and that helped you realize that I was helping Mr. Wayne and his friends clean out the basement…"

"Stop," she spat, narrowing her eyes, "no more of your cover stories. I know!"

He shrugged, trying to act unfazed. "Don't you even want to hear my rationale for why the door is behind the clock?"

She shook her head disapprovingly. "Where you learned to use humor in such situations is beyond me."

"I guess this is the part where I figure out you're Barbara Gordon," Terry lowered his eyes and tried to stop the million thoughts racing through his brain, "the Batgirl and the Oracle."

Bruce stepped forward again, forcing himself into the center of the odd circle there were standing in. "And this is the part where we talk." He motioned towards the living room.

She locked eyes briefly with Tim before turning to walk with Terry into the living room. Tim followed silently, calculations still running in his head.

Dick numbly began to move forward, but a firm, yet somehow gentle, hand caught his elbow and pulled him back further in to the den.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Terry's left leg bounced up and down with a nervous energy as he watched his mother and Tim Drake exchange empty pleasantries while they all waited for Bruce and Dick.

He hadn't immediately recognized Tim Drake's name or face when he first saw him, but now he knew who he was. He had been a very close friend of his mother's, one that Warren hadn't approved of. He had disappeared when Terry was young, but he had left something behind.

"I came here to confront my past and gain closure before I came to see you," Tim emitted a nervous cough, "I didn't realize how much closure I'd be getting."

The red head smiled knowingly and reached over to take his hand. "No matter what happened, you and I will see things through."

"So, you were the second Robin," Terry began, quick to change the subject. He felt oddly uncomfortable with his mother's last statement.

Tim nodded. He began to say something, but Terry cut him off.

"And you just quit doing that so you could follow my mom around while she had amnesia. That's pretty weird," he clipped out with biting sarcasm.

"Terry!" came his mother's reprimand.

"No, it's okay," Tim began calmly, " it is all very weird. Your Mom and I were very close. I didn't handle it well when she disappeared and was presumed dead. I took off to try and rebuild. Staying in Gotham hurt too much. I met a girl," his face darkened then, "her name was Cassandra Cain. It was love at first sight. We moved to Washington and that's where I stumbled across your mom. I thought for sure she was Barbara, but none of my research showed that. In the meantime, though, we had developed a strong friendship. I began to let go of my hope that Barbara was alive. I began to live only for the present. Then… everything went downhill… and it turned out I was wrong. Mary and Barbara were one and the same…"

Terry hung his head as low as his neck would allow it. He hadn't meant to be so defensive, he was just afraid. His parents had always provided him with security. Even after Warren died, he wasn't afraid, only angry. This was the first time that he could remember ever truly being scared for himself.

A gear shifted in his mind and began to turn, spinning others as it went. Terry closed his eyes and tried to stop it, but they kept turning… Warren McGuiness wasn't his father. Barbara Gordon was the true identity of his mother. Someone in this house could be his father. The most likely candidate was Dick Grayson.

Bruce and Dick walked in then. Bruce took a seat next to Tim while Dick continued walking towards the far wall. He leaned up against it and glared at the back of Tim's head.

Terry watched Dick intently, trying to catch his eye. He had immediately liked Dick Grayson and bonded with him instantly. Now he knew why. He wanted him to be his father. He needed him to be his father. He sunk back into the cushions of the sofa and remained silent.

Barbara closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose as Bruce began to patiently ask her to reiterate her story. She was going to have to flub and edit it a bit to avoid hostile confrontation. She needed to do what was necessary to get herself and her son out of there.

Dick couldn't believe how calm she was acting as she told them her story. His mind was reeling. He just wanted to grab her and hold her – never let her go so she couldn't slip through his fingers again. He wanted to scream. She had been married to someone else. She had two sons…

But she had woken in the hospital already pregnant with Terry. He wondered if Terry was his son or if there had been someone else…

He had received a stern, though sympathetic lecture from Bruce. They had to discover the truth and not scare her away. The only way he could keep his mouth shut was to brood over in the corner of the large sitting room.

She told them how she awoke in the hospital with no memory. She was told her name was Mary McGuiness, she was married to Warren and she was pregnant. Because she had to keep her stress low and concentrate on the baby, Terry, she did not worry about the past, concentrating only on the present and the future.

"Why was your name changed to Mary?" Bruce asked, trying to hide his frustration with her simple story.

"I guess there were people after us and we had to be protected."

"What people?"

"I don't know," she was starting to become visibly agitated. "Not all of my memories are back. All I know is it had something to do with a case that Warren, Ted, Wonder Woman and myself were involved with."

Bruce narrowed his eyes. "Warren and Ted?"

"Yes. Warren worked for Ted at Kord, Inc. That's how I met him."

The eyes stayed narrowed. "Barbara, that doesn't make any sense. You didn't know Ted Kord as Barbara Gordon. You only knew him as Batgirl and Oracle."

"Well, I guess the cat came out of the bag at some point."

Bruce rose, using his cane to help him. "None of this was in the case file Diana gave me when you disappeared."

She rose to meet his eye. "Listen, I'm still not square on exactly what happened. I vaguely remember bits and pieces from the year of my disappearance. A lot of this was told to me by Diana."

"You've seen the princess?" It all was becoming clear to him now.

"She's the one who reinstated my memories."

Dark eyebrows slightly streaked with silver threads furrowed together.

Seventeen years may have passed, but Dick still knew the woman who stood not ten feet away from him. She was shielding something. She was afraid. She was angry. She was also devising some sort of plan, but for what, he didn't know. Bruce had warned him to stay silent and let him handle it. Taking a deep breath, he pursed his lips together.

"The point is," she continued impatiently, "is that I never wanted this for Terry. I remember talking to you distinctly about how I wanted a more normal life," her eyes hardened, "I need to talk with my son and sort things out with him and I need to pick up Matt."

Tim was also remaining quiet. This woman wasn't acting like the happy-go-lucky Mary McGuiness he had come to know over the years, nor her former self as Barbara Gordon. She was acting like a completely different person. He understood that all of this couldn't be easy for her to digest, but there seemed to be some other force driving her actions.

"Why don't I go with you to pick up Matt?" Tim asked as he also rose from his seat, "I should have never let it go as long as I did…"

"Tim," Barbara began sympathetically, the anger and frustration melting off her face, "it's not your fault. It was a difficult time and you made the best decision for him you could. You shouldn't be ashamed that you weren't able to give Matt the same life that I could."

Dick picked himself up from his heavy leaning on the wall and walked towards the group. "What are you two talking about?"

Tim turned to face him. "Matt McGuiness is my son." He sat back down as he briefly told them his tale. He told them how he fell in love with Cassandra and married her, but she had died giving birth to Matt. He couldn't raise Matt alone and relied heavily on Mary McGuiness for support. When he had a nervous breakdown, Mary sent him to a clinic and took Matt in. He realized he couldn't be a good father to Matt and worked out an arrangement with the McGuiness family before trying to piece his life back together. After years of therapy, he decided to confront his demons in Gotham before reconnecting with his son.

"It all started to catch up with me," he continued, his voice thick with emotion and his breathing becoming more labored. "I had never known my mother. My father was murdered in front of me. I had become a teenage vigilante with no sense of normalcy. I couldn't handle Barbara and Alfred's deaths. I began to think I had no future… that I would die in that costume… so I left. When I met Cass, she took all that pain away. I began to feel… normal. I told her about Barbara and she even helped me do some research on Mary. I was so hurt when I thought they weren't the same, but Cass helped me through it again. But when she died… I crashed again. I couldn't take care of Matt. I was afraid something horrible would happen to him. He was safer with Mary…" He covered his face with his hand, unable to say any more.

Barbara turned her eyes towards Bruce. "This is why I don't want my son here. I wanted to save him from this. Nothing good comes from being a hero."

Terry looked up at his mom. "I… I've got my own ride. I just need a minute and I'll meet you back home." He wanted to talk to his mother away from the others. He could also see she was holding much back.

Nodding, she walked over to Tim and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Whenever you're ready," she murmured before heading towards the door.

Bruce fell back in his seat and did his best to comfort Tim. "I'm sorry, Tim. I should have been there for you more," he whispered.

Tim raised his tear washed eyes. "No. It's not your fault. If I hadn't left, I would have never met Cass… and I needed to have met Cass. Everything happens for a reason. I'll never understand that reason, but I just want to move forward. I didn't come here to blame you. I came here to ask you to help me do that."

"Why don't we take a break," Bruce offered, rising again. "I want to show you something that you might find interesting."

Nodding, Tim mutely followed.

"I don't know what I'm more shocked at," Dick came to sit next to Terry, "everything that Tim went through or that Bruce is finally acting like the father we always wanted."

Terry didn't say anything for a moment, his brain sticking as he tried to formulate sentences. "It's kind of crazy, ya know. My brother is the son of Robin." He scrunched his face, embarrassed that was all he could come up with.

Placing a hand on Terry's arm, Dick looked at him very seriously. "Now it's time to find out if you're the son of a Robin, too."

Neither said a word for several moments.

Dick finally rose. "No matter what happens, I think you're a damn good Batman."

"Hey, wait!" An odd jolt of boldness sprung up from within Terry as he realized Dick was headed off to talk to his mother. "My mom was never… really in love with my dad… Warren… It was almost as if she was waiting for someone else, waiting for you, but she just couldn't remember. I think she's just scared or something now."

It had come out disconnected and not as smooth as he had wanted it too, but Dick got the message.

"It was never easy with your mom and me," he murmured before heading towards the door.

Terry closed his eyes and fell back into the couch. He felt like he was trapped in a very bad movie.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

He found her out in the driveway, fumbling through her purse.

"Babs!"

Her head jerked up at the sound of his voice. She looked like a deer caught in headlights. They stared at each other for a moment.

Swallowing a lump in his throat, Dick began rambling. "The last time I saw you, you said you loved me and I believed you. I can totally buy that you had an accident and had amnesia, but you were living with some guy because they had to protect you from a mission? I thought that you and Ted had been working on something routine? And I never heard of Warren McGuiness before? What the hell, Babs?"

He hadn't meant to be accusatory.

"I still don't understand myself… that year isn't clear to me." She was trying to be brave and calm, but she was beginning to slowly crumble.

He took a deep breath. "Walk with me in the gardens for a minute. Please? I just… I just want to talk to you."

Nodding numbly, she slowly walked with him to the garden path that Alfred had so lovingly attended to all his years in Wayne manor. The garden had since been in the care of a service. Barbara had once loved roaming among Alfred's beautiful creation, but now, the path seemed devoid of warmth and feeling.

"You're not going to like what I have to tell you," she began.

"So there is more to the story."

She avoided his eye. "Dick, I…"

Her words were lost as he crushed her against him. Her face found the hollow in his neck and collar where it fit so well. He was as warm and as dizzily intoxicating as she remembered. She had been fighting it so, but as she pressed against him, with his arms secured about her, she couldn't. A sob escaped her throat, chokedly. He brought up his hand to stroke her hair.

"I missed you, dammit," he whispered hoarsely.

Her lips trembled. She wanted to tell him she missed him, too, but the words stuck in her throat. Instead, she wriggled out of his grasp and stepped back.

"Things are not as they once were," she rasped, tears stinging in her eyes.

He looked in her with hurt and confusion. "Barbara… I can't lose you twice… don't do this…"

She squeezed her eyes shut. She thought she could handle this, but she was wrong. No matter what Wonder Woman had told her and made her remember, she still loved Dick Grayson.

Opening her eyes, she tried to harden herself. She had once dreamed of a beautiful life with the man in front of her, but that dream was long since dead.

"It started with the Ogawa case," she began. "Bruce worked on it with me."

He remembered that case. It was the second to last case she worked on before she disappeared. That was when he first had gotten wind that Ted Kord had some sort of twisted crush on Barbara. He remembered pushing her chair so it wheeled far away from the keyboard. He quickly made the Oracle interface tell Ted Kord that it came as a complete surprise that he had detached himself from Wonder Woman's tit long enough to say something witty. Barbara had swatted him soundly for it.

"Bruce and I had been spending a great deal of time together," Barbara continued. "We spent so much time together, that Bruce began to notice something different about me," her voice began faltering, "I tried to avoid him until I could figure something out, but he was relentless… and then the threats came." She paused to bite her bottom lip briefly. "He confronted me about the pregnancy before you returned from your trip to New York. He told me living a normal life wasn't an option. He reminded me he had warned me when I so stubbornly insisted on being Batgirl there was no turning back. My options were abortion or adoption. If I kept the child, he would only be subjected to the same fate. There was no other way. I didn't think he could be so cruel, but…" her eyes hardened, "I need to get Terry out of here."

"I knew it."

She turned in surprise at his harsh admission.

"You told me it was a crush that ended," he rasped.

She looked at him in disbelief.

"I've felt empty without you all these years. It's finally revealed that you've been alive this whole time. I should have known it was too good to be true," he continued.

"Dick, what are you talking about? Aren't you listening to me?"

His eyes blazed. "Listening! I heard loud and clear how Bruce knocked you up and then tried to cover it up!"

The two soon began screaming at each other, not really hearing what the other was saying. Dick finally became so frustrated, he stormed off.

She threw here hands up in the air. "I'm glad to see we're picking up right where we left off…" She pulled out her cell phone and dialed the latest number she had programmed into it. "Can you grant me immunity?" she asked of the person on the other end of the line.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Terry had shrugged on his jacket and was heading down the front walk to his bike. He had finally decided he needed to get home or he was going to go crazy sitting on the couch with his thoughts.

He was surprised to see Dick Grayson stomping towards the walk from the gardens. Every movement Dick made alerted Terry that he was terribly vexed. It didn't take a detective, or a Batman, to guess that it had to do with his mother. After a quick pause to rethink what he was about to do, Terry jogged over to Dick.

"Hey… How's, uh, it going?" He was trying not to sound lame, but it wasn't working. He was beginning to wonder what his original point was of going over to Dick in the first place.

Dick turned abruptly. He was surprised to see Terry there. He had been so blindingly filled with rage and purpose that he failed to notice his surroundings. That only made him more angry, but he swallowed it as best he could in the face of the young man before him. Terry was innocent in all this. There was no need to take it out on him.

From their first meeting, he had felt a connection to him, something tugging at his heart towards this stranger. Now he was beginning to realize exactly why. This boy was a part of Babs. He loved her, so naturally he would feel something towards his son.

'Her son…' the thought fueled his anger all over again. He cleared his throat and swallowed the giant lump forming there. Unknotting his brow from the seething frown, he tried his best to be at least civil to the innocent young man.

"Hey, Terry. I… I have to see Bruce about something."

Terry shifted uncomfortably. He could sense the awkward tension between them both and he wasn't quite sure why it was there. He wanted to know what was wrong with Dick. He wanted to know what was going on.

Most of all, he wanted to continue connecting with the man he so desperately wanted to be his biological father. Warren had been so wonderful to him, but in hindsight, he saw how flawed the McGuiness family really was.

"I have to go home, now."

Dick nodded and turned to walk back towards the door. Terry turned and began walking again towards his bike. He hadn't gone many steps when he felt someone gently take his arm. He looked up to see a sorrowful, concerned, troubled expression on Dick's face.

"Be careful, ok?" A softness took over his eyes and he released Terry's arm so he could reach up and ruffle his hair. "You're a good kid, you know that? I wasn't quite sure what the old man was doing when he took you in to where the suit, but I… I see now. You'll go far. Stay focused. Don't let your emotions get in the way… like I do," Dick paused and a few small lines appeared on his brow, as if he were trying to sum up in a few short words very intricate, important advice to give the young man before him. He gave up with a short puff of air and gave Terry a small pat on the back. "I… you know… it's too bad… I wish you were my kid. We would've made a good team: you, you're mother and I…" His face twisted and he quickly went back to stalking into the house, slamming the great front door.

Deciding to abandon his trip home, Terry felt a few moments of eavesdropping would help him patch together a story that was, thus far, not adding up at all.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Tim was shocked by the file Bruce showed him.

"But… but it makes no sense," he began as he continued staring at the words displaying on the screen. "What's the motive?"

Bruce grimaced. "That might prove to be the real mystery."

Shaking his head, Tim let out a sarcastic laugh. "I thought I was going to be coming home to something so straight forward and that I was going to make sense of everything. Now… I don't know what to make of anything anymore."

They silently walked up the cave stairs and into the main living room. Bruce still needed more answers to the daunting evidence he had already uncovered on the mystery surrounding Barbara's disappearance. First, he needed to make sure his sons were okay. Settling in an old armchair, he began a long, much overdue conversation.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Bruce and Tim had been enjoying a very nice conversation. Tim began to feel better…

They stood and headed towards the kitchen to make hot chocolate – a tradition that started when they found themselves in those father and son moments on nights long ago. They were nights when they tried to make sense of it all.

They hadn't gotten very far when the whirlwind that was Dick and his infuriating anger stormed into the manor. The slamming of the door alone – that mammoth, heavy door that was hard to slam – alerted them to his mood long before he entered the room, his face black as thunder.

"Y-you!" he sputtered, pointing an accusing finger at Bruce. "How COULD you! You're supposed to be my father, damn it! What is wrong with you!" He paused then and seemed to be gasping to catch his breath. "The-the minute my back is turned, you jump into bed with the woman I love more than my own life! And then you don't even learn from your mistakes with Tim and I! You just go right ahead and throw your only biological son into the batsuit the first chance you get."

Tim, who had been standing somewhere between Bruce and Dick, opted to silently sidestep out of the line of fire. He had learned a long, hard lesson many years ago about trying to referee between those two when they went at it.

There wasn't much to cause Bruce to be taken aback, but Dick's accusation, and the force of his anger, came as a shock. Dick had always been emotional. There had been many times when he had been angry. But this was different. He had never seen him this enraged…

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Terry, who had gone undetected in the emotional intensity, sank back against the kitchen wall. For several moments, nothing happened. Time seemed to stop. Nothing moved. Even his mind seemed to stop. Suddenly, his body went into an automatic mode as his mind slowly began calculating again. He was vaguely aware that he was heading back outside, but mostly he was aware of what he had just heard.


	12. Chapter 11

It's All Relative

Chapter 11: To Become a Family

By Teala373

The only sound heard in the manor living room was the heavy, angry breaths as a wild-eyed Dick Grayson seethed in the direction of a man he had, up until about five minutes ago, thought of as a father.

Through the red haze of his angry vision, the pulse of his anger skipped a beat as he was shocked to see a mirror image of himself. Bruce was just as angry with him.

Bruce had never meant to live out his days like this. He hadn't meant for Dick to live them out as such either when he took him in all those years ago. He certainly hadn't meant any more pain to come to Tim. And Barbara… she was never supposed to be a factor. None of them were. None of this was supposed to happen, but it did.

And he was going to end it.

Turning on his heel, Bruce headed towards the den. Fate was going to start doing things his way. He was overdue.

Dick's eyes nearly feel from his sockets as they bulged from his head. White-hot anger flooded through him as he watched Bruce walk away. He couldn't believe that Bruce had dared to match his anger and then just walk out. Determined to finish what he had began, Dick began stalking towards the den.

Threading a hand quickly through his hair, Tim sighed as he advanced. Taking full advantage of Dick being blinded by his rage, the former Robin slipped up behind him and ensnared him in a restraining hold. Dick fought him like a wild boar, but with his anger clouding his judgment, Tim was able to keep him contained.

"Let go of me, damn it," he roared as he tried to twist out of his younger brother's grasp. He inability to escape only further fueled his anger.

"Dick, please calm down…"

"CALM DOWN! You want me to calm down after what he DID…"

Not quite sure if his mediating would help, Tim sighed again. "Not for anything, but how did you come across this nugget of information?"

"Babs told me," came stiff words through clenched teeth.

"She told you, word for word, that Bruce was Terry's father?"

"Not… like that…" Dick's struggling lessened, "she said it all weird… because she didn't really want to tell me…"

A short burst of laughter escaped Tim's lips as he applied pressure to a point on Dick's arm that he knew would further inhibit his movements. "I see that you two still don't have your communication down."

Dick's movements stopped momentarily. "What are you talking about?" he clipped out gruffly.

"You never get it right with her. You never did."

Dick's back straightened. His mind was a tangle of emotions as he struggled to piece all the information together. He opened his mouth, but before the words could come out, the loud sound of a banging door cut through the room.

Bruce had returned, thundering in the room with more hurt and anger than either of his adopted sons had ever seen before. Flicking his wrist, he sent the file folder he had been holding spinning as it skimmed across the space between himself and his sons. Releasing Dick, Tim picked up the folder and handed it to him.

"Jim Gordon was one of my best friends. I considered him family and thought of his daughter as my own as well as a partner," Bruce accentuated each word with a biting edge, just short of yelling. "I may not have been so liberal with my feelings, but I thought you understood that I loved you as my own son and that I was happy that you had found someone… How you could EVER accuse me of such a disgusting and indecent act is… beyond my comprehension!"

It was then that Dick opened the folder and saw the truth. Bruce had conducted a paternity test on Terry. His father was listed as Richard John Grayson. As the reality of the situation hit him, he dropped the folder, a wave of coldness washing over him. Bruce had only told him a handful of times how much he had cared for him, but he had never said he had loved him. He hung his head, embarrassed for what he had just accused him of. Bruce had never betrayed him. He had only ever protected him.

Several silent moments passed. Bruce's emotions had long since subsided. Fighting amongst themselves wasn't what he wanted. He wanted to piece this family back together. Alfred had warned him about closing himself off forever. It was time to take his advice.

Things were going to be different.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Terry and Matt had grown up in a home with minimal yelling, homemade cookies and lots of hugs. They weren't very happy with a drill sergeant mother that ordered them to pack up their things and flee with her to a building downtown.

"This is only temporary until we can get out of the country," she stated before they entered the office of the Themescyran Princess.

"Mom, it's cool," Terry whispered while they waited for Wonder Woman to return from a meeting, " I know about Bruce."

He was met with a wild eyed look of horror he had never seen before on his mother. "Terry, you don't understand…"

"We don't have to run," he leaned over to make sure Matt was still preoccupied by his Virtual Gameboy 3-D, "we can work it out…"

"Bruce isn't your father," she hissed back at him, "Dick just has things all wrong… as usual."

Terry felt his blood rush and then slow down again. "It's Dick, isn't it? He's my real father… but then why are we running?"

"You're too new at it yet," a far away look overcame her eyes as she stared off at an imaginary point in the room. "You risk your life every night, thinking that by saving others from your fate, you'll make your own pain go away. But it never goes away. And when you try to move forward, when you try to have something real, something good, the world turns against you." Her eyes came back into focus then and she locked eyes with her confused son. "Bruce can never run, and just around the time you realize you have to run from him, he makes it so you can't escape."

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"Barbara said you threatened her," an overwhelmed Dick mumbled.

"More lies that were fed to her."

Dick's head came up sharply. Bruce had briefed him on Wonder Woman and Ted Kord's involvement on Barbara's disappearance. If Ted Kord wasn't already dead, Dick would have made sure he was.

"I still don't understand," Tim took a seat next to Dick on the couch and crossed his arms. "There's no motive. Well, for Wonder Woman, anyway. She masterminded this whole thing, but for what reason?"

Bruce had been toying with an idea of just how Wonder Woman had pulled this all off so effortlessly behind his back, but when Tim said 'masterminded', it set off a very dangerous set of wheels spinning.

"I'll be back," Bruce whispered harshly as he turned and headed out of the living room. "Don't move."

Both sons looked after him questioningly, but said nothing. They knew that tone.

"Hey," Tim nudged a very dejected looking Dick. "We're going to fix this. Together."

Dick looked up and slowly raised a corner of his mouth. "Thanks, bro. I'm glad you're back."

Tim put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Listen. We're all going to do it right this time. I want my son back. I want the only real family I've ever known back. I want my life back. And I want those things for you, too."

Dick nodded. He wanted to know his son. He wanted Babs back. "I may have caused more permanent damage with Babs…"

"What else is new?" Tim chuckled. "You always screw up and she always forgives you. It's a circle with no break. This should have taught you that."

"I'm tired of screwing up," Dick released a hard sigh as he stood and began pacing. "I want something… real."

"It will be real this time," Tim rose and tried to meet his eye. "I think Bruce is… getting it. I think this time around is going to be different for all of us."

Dick turned to say something but something made him stop and turn around sharply. No other person on the main floors of the manor would ever be able to detect it, but Dick knew it. He had lived with it since he was nine years old.

Something was happening in the cave.

Tearing over to the grandfather clock with Tim at his heels, Dick tried desperately to get down to the cave. It seemed to take forever as he felt as though he couldn't push his legs fast enough. His hands fumbled at the secret lever and the stairs seemed to go on endlessly.

When they finally reached the bottom, the gasped at what they saw. Bruce was gone, but it wasn't that he was gone, it was how he was gone.

One of the cases had been smashed open.

The original Batman suit had been taken.

The original Batman was back.

"I say ten bucks," Tim began, "that he took a bottle of pain killers instead of his cane."

Dick turned to him and smirked. "I say ten bucks that he never needed the cane."

Tim smirked back.


	13. Chapter 12

It's All Relative

Chapter 12: The Dark Knight Returns

By Teala373

Batman, the original Batman, stood just outside of Central City, watching the red line that protected it. Most people couldn't see the red line; they didn't even know it was there.

But Batman wasn't just anyone.

He concentrated for several moments before reaching his hand into the red light.

He tightened his grip.

The red line stopped.

The Flash stood before Batman, whose hand was secured around his throat.

"Hey… (cough)… Batman," Flash chocked out, "long… time…"

Batman released his grip by throwing Flash to the ground.

"I can do it again," he threatened.

Flash stood up and stayed still. He had heard Batman's intimidating voice threaten people many times when they worked together in the League, but he never remembered anything this menacing.

"S-so what do I owe the honor?" he asked casually while rubbing his neck. "Haven't heard of you being out and about in years. And in your original costume, no less. What happened to the new guy? You scare him off, too?"

He regretted it the minute he said it.

"I didn't come here to chat," Batman practically roared, causing Flash to cower back several steps. "I came here for answers."

"An-answers?"

"You know what I'm talking about." He grabbed the material under Flash's neck and hoisted him up off the ground to his eye level. "How many of you were in on it? Was it the whole league?"

Flash withered visibly. He had wondered if this day would come. "We thought we were doing the right thing."

"Explain."

Flash's voice dropped to a low, defeated tone. "Wonder Woman told us Oracle's identity. She said Oracle had come to her at the embassy hysterical after finding out she was pregnant. Oracle had said she was terrified because you wouldn't let her out of 'the life' and she wanted to disappear. Wonder Woman and Ted Kord had it all set. They needed Aquaman and I to help with evidence. Make it look legit," he lifted his head to look at Batman. "You have to know it wasn't the whole league. Supes'd never go for it."

"Why, Wally?" Batman shook him before dropping him to the ground. "Did you honestly believe I would threaten a pregnant woman?"

"No… no, I never believed that, but apparently Oracle had been so upset, she almost lost the baby… The night she went into the embassy, she never came out. They doctored the security tapes. They hooked her up to a machine Kord built and wiped her memory. I figured she was running from something and I didn't want her to…"

"What else?" Batman interrupted. Flash may have been something of a comedian, but agreeing to one of Wonder Woman's crazy schemes for no good reason wasn't his style.

Flash dropped his head in his hands. "She had… she was hanging Linda over my head. If I helped them, they'd use the machine to reinstate Linda's memories… if I didn't… they'd give her false memories so she would… hate me forever… the machine can give you fake memories, too…"

Batman tried to control the onslaught of rage that flooded through him. He needed more answers.

"How involved was Kord?"

"All the way. He always knew who we all were – who Barbara was. He was in love with her as Barbara Gordon long before she was Oracle. Wonder Woman… I don't know what her deal was. I don't know if she played Kord to get Barbara away from you or if he played her to get Barbara. They had an odd relationship. They were both too smart in a, you know, bad way."

"Why didn't you notify the League?"

Flash's head shot up. "Because I didn't know what the truth was. I didn't know whom to trust. I didn't know what Wonder Woman would do if I couldn't bring her down. I had no proof. I didn't know if Aquaman would back me up. I don't know why he was along for the ride. My hands were tied!"

Batman grimaced. Wonder Woman was the real enemy. Not Flash. "Do you know why this was so important to her?"

"I don't know," he confessed honestly, "She claimed she and Barbara were close. Maybe she was worried about her. Maybe she wanted to help her. Maybe she owed Ted," his voice started rising and filling with frustration. "I don't know! I have no idea what makes that psycho Amazon tick!"

Batman held out a hand, which Flash accepted, and helped him to his feet.

"Listen," Flash continued, "I'm sorry. I should have talked to you. I should have investigated. I should have brought it to Kal and J'onn," he hung his head. "I was selfish. I wanted Linda back and I didn't want to jeopardize the seemingly only chance I had at getting her back… If I could do it all over again… I'm sorry."

"Actually," Batman had dropped his tone to a less menacing one, "there is something you can do for me."

Flash looked up at him, his mask barely hiding his questioning glance.

"Here," Batman produced two shiny objects that had been hanging from his belt and tossed them over. Flash noted how heavy they were as he took them and Batman's instructions.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Terry lay in a strange bed, in a strange room, in a strange building, staring up at a strange ceiling.

He didn't like this.

His mother and brother were in the other two bedrooms of the suite they had been shown to. His mother, who had felt immediate relief of being within these walls, had no problem going to sleep. Matt was too overwhelmed and exhausted to fight his tired state.

But Terry was Batman. Sleep was not a luxury that those who donned the dreaded cowl could afford.

His mother may have high praise for the Amazon Princess, but Terry didn't. He didn't like her. He didn't like this place. He wanted his sweet, caring mother back. He wanted his own bed. He wanted to see his father. His real father.

Springing up from bed, he began scanning the room for surveillance. He was going to take a look a round and then try to get a hold of Bruce.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Princess Diana of Themescyra rubbed her wrists as she took of her heavy bracelets and placed them on her nightstand. She wasn't supposed to ever take them off, but they had really been bothering her for the past few hours. She slathered her wrists with a sweet smelling ointment before refitting the bracelets and then laying down. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt this tired. She needed to rest before executing the next phase of her plan.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

The main cray of the bat computer was almost completely dismantled as Dick and Tim looked for just what was making it tick. Bruce had made several serious custom upgrades to the system and Tim believed part of it was hardwired.

"What do you think he's hiding?" Tim asked as he pulled out another RAM module.

Dick gave out a long, low whistle as he tried to make sense of a massive tangle of wires. "We could make a hundred guesses and none of them would be even remotely close."

They had agreed to not leave the house, but they never said anything about trying to open his virtually inaccessible files.

"Found it!" Tim called out triumphantly as he produced a small metal box. "It looks like he wired a voice print ID system just for these select files."

It was nearly an hour later when they compromised the voice print ID system and pieced the massive computer back together. It took all of Tim's hacking prowess to open the files Bruce had hidden so deep, they almost hadn't registered their existence.

"Ok, before we open them, one last bet."

"I'm gonna go with porn."

"Dick, c'mon! Be serious."

"I am! I say its porn."

Tim rolled his eyes. "I say we are going to find the answer to where Bruce went."

"Alright, alright," Dick held up his hands in mock surrender. "I think we're going to find a little bit more on what makes dear ol' pops tick."

Turning to throw him a wicked smirk, Tim wondered if the two if them would ever grow up. "To quote a beautiful lady: 'where you learned to use humor in such situations is beyond me'."

"Ha freakin' ha. Let's start digging. If we're supposed to be back up, because you know we will end up being backup, we should be informed backup," a more serious look overtook his face. "I want this to be over with."

Tim nodded before returning to the keyboard. He was able to open the files in much less time than he anticipated. Babs had taught him well. The technology may have changed, but the principals were still the same.

The first folder held secret case files. There were pages and pages of extended notes on case files, personal notes Bruce added after his usual matter-of-fact notes that he had hidden. These were filled with emotion. They were Bruce's thoughts and feelings on some of his most intense cases.

Dick and Tim sat in awe as they read his frustration, his devastation, his self-doubt, his pain and his fears. Many of his fears revolved around losing the people he loved most, mostly Dick and Tim.

"As they grow into men and come into their own," one passage began, "I realize that I can no longer treat them as children that I have to protect and teach. It is difficult for me to treat them as equals. I still want to protect them. I am still angry with my self for letting my fate befall them. I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to them. That is why I am so hard on them; I want them to survive. No father ever wants to bury his children."

There were extensive notes on how horrible he felt when Dick had quit being Robin. How disappointed he was with himself for letting their relationship come to such terms, his devastation at worrying about where he was and how he was doing.

Tim shut the file folder and opened one labeled "media". This file contained digital video images. There were videos Alfred had taken of all of them during holidays and other special occasions. Tears stung in Tim's eyes at a video showing one of his birthday parties. They were all so happy, then. Even Bruce laughed when Dick shoved Tim's face into the cake.

And then he opened the other files. They were all home videos of the Wayne family. They had been a very happy, loving, normal family.

"Turn it off," came a Dick's hoarse, emotion filled voice. "I can't watch this."

Tim closed the media player, but checked the properties on the files. They were accessed frequently.

"Let's see what this folder is." It was labeled "delphi". Inside were files documenting Bruce's findings on Barbara's disappearance and reappearance.

"Are you going to be okay if we read this?" Tim asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"You're not going to like this."

Dick looked at his brother questioningly. "I don't understand."

Sighing, Tim opened a file labeled "kord". "Just remember that he's already dead."

To say that Dick was angry to discover that Barbara had been living the last seventeen years with Ted Kord was an understatement.


	14. Chapter 13

It's All Relative

Chapter 13: The Hall of Penance

By Teala373

It hadn't taken Terry long to understand the security of the embassy and move undetected through it. It was, however, more difficult to compromise the security of the main terminal in the strange network room near the Princess' office. He began digging through the desk drawers and filing cabinets, trying to find anything that might help him.

He wasn't surprised to find a false bottom in the top left drawer, but he was surprised to find pictures of his mother underneath it.

Several of the pictures were of his mother with Wonder Woman. He had never seen any pictures of his mother from before he was born. He was surprised to see what she had looked like as a younger woman with longer hair. A newspaper article detailed her kidnapping by Mr. Freeze that Bruce had described to him. There were several solo pictures, all of which looked like they had been secretly taken: pictures of her reading at café's, walking down the street or hanging around the Gotham police headquarters. Then, there was a second newspaper article that shocked Terry to the core. It was a society pages article with a picture showing several high profile Gothamites at the Mayor's charity ball. According to the caption, the picture was depicting the Mayor, Commissioner Gordon, Barbara Gordon, Ted Kord and Bruce Wayne.

Terry didn't fail to miss the striking similarity of Ted Kord and Warren McGuiness.

Typing 'Barbara' into the password prompt of the main terminal, Terry soon gained access to the truth of his mother's disappearance.

Not to mention, some very interesting information on her royal highness of Themescyra.

Terry began to realize that he still didn't have the entire story of his mother's cold case. There were too many secrets and no one was putting all their cards out on the table. He paused to crack his knuckles before he began a very aggressive hack job.

It was difficult to describe how he felt about the information he had discovered.

When he finished gaining all the pieces he could, he ventured out into the slumbering embassy. A slight flicker of the shadows caught his attention. He investigated further and smiled when he realized that he wasn't the only one awake in the dark of the embassy.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Wonder Woman was startled to discover herself being shaken awake from a nightmare by one of her attendants.

"You highness, there is someone here for you."

It took her a few moments to compose herself and clear her head. She normally did not fall into such deep sleeps. "What do you mean someone is here for me?"

The attendant seemed slightly frazzled. "He only said to tell you that it was time."

It was a slight struggle to get up on her feet. "Did he give his name?" It was obviously of an important nature or she would not have been disturbed.

The attendant bit her lip and seemed to cower. "He didn't have to."

Raising her eyebrow slightly, the Amazon Princess quickly dressed in her Wonder Woman garb before entering the large ceremonial chamber that was often called the Hall of Penance. The large banquet room was filled with Themescyran art depicting the rise and fall and rise again of the Amazons. Most of the artwork depicted the penance enforced by Hercules in which they were forced to wear the heavy bracelets on their wrists for all eternity.

As she entered, Wonder Woman noted a dark figure standing in the room's center, amerced in shadow. Her eyes narrowed as realization set in.

"The Dark Knight," she hissed, "do what do I owe the honor?"

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Barbara, utterly fatigued from the day's stressful events, had fallen into a deep sleep. She dreamed that she was flying across the Gotham skyline with Dick by her side. They weren't wearing masks and there was no one to save. It was just the two of them swinging side by side without a care in the world.

Suddenly, the skyline and Dick disappeared, leaving her all alone, floating in nothingness. A rhythm began steadily pulsing through inky darkness. She shifted, trying to move, but it was to no avail. The rhythm became louder and she thought she heard the beginning of a voice within it. With each pulse, it became more and more audible, until she finally recognized the urgent voice of her son.

Eyes snapping open, Barbara tried to focus her eyes as her brain reeled from being torn awake.

"Mom! Hurry!" Terry pleaded as he gently shook her left shoulder.

She sat up slowly, eyes still dilating. She felt the twin trail of tears that had wound down her face from her thoughts of Dick Grayson: a man she still desperately loved, but would forever be lost to her.

Or so she thought.

"Mom, please!" Terry's voice cut through her jumbling thoughts as she struggled to get up.

"What is it, Terry?" She placed a hand to her head in a feeble attempt to stop a dull throb that was surfacing.

He threw a handful of clothes her way. "Hurry," he pleaded again, "there isn't much time."

She was still disoriented from waking so suddenly from such a deep sleep, but she managed to make her way into the small adjoining bathroom and make herself presentable.

Though she was only gone for a maximum of two minutes, it felt like an eternity for the current Batman, who was eager to piece his fractured life back together. Before she could even begin a line of questioning, he grabbed her hand and dragged her down a maze of hallways.

"Where are we going?" she asked breathlessly as they headed up a flight of stairs, her mind still a whirlwind. Black crossed her eyes several times, causing her to stumble slightly as she blindly followed a boy who she was finally seeing as a man.

Reaching the top of the stairs, Terry led her to the edge of a balcony, marked by a large, ornate railing with rather thick, intricately cut spindles. He motioned for her to crouch behind them before he himself hopped up on top of the railing.

Barbara looked up at her son, the last of the sleep falling from her eyes. She noticed then that he was wearing his Batman suit.

He gave her a long meaningful look before he pulled his mask over his head. "Enjoy the show," he whispered before leaping out into the Hall of Penance.


	15. Chapter 14

It's All Relative

Chapter 14: Revelations

By Teala373

Wonder Woman had been the first to initiate a conversation between herself and the original Batman, however, a very long silence hung in the air in which he said nothing.

"Are you just going to stand there?" The Amazon Princess asked impatiently.

"You have much to answer for, Diana," came the steely reply. His neck twitched slightly, almost as if he meant to turn his head, but he stopped himself. He smiled, realizing that the almost silent descending of another in the shadows was in fact Terry. Wonder Woman did not seem to pick up on his presence and he was not in a rush to tip her off.

"And what exactly do you think I have to answer for, Detective," she placed emphasis on the least favorite of his many names.

"Let's start with why you and Ted Kord really faked Barbara's death."

Eyes narrowing dangerously, Wonder Woman slowly took on a more defensive stance. "I was not about to let such a brilliant woman, so full of life, be sucked into your world of darkness and deprecation. You and that spoiled, whiny son of yours would have been the undoing of her and the child. I could not watch it happen."

"And the amnesia?" A new edge crept into his voice.

Diana narrowed her eyes further. "There was nothing for her to remember. I didn't want the romanticism of memories when Dick Grayson actually hadn't been messing up her life to affect her."

"That's funny," Wonder Woman and the original Batman both turned as the current Batman slowly emerged from the shadows and walked toward them. Bruce could tell he was doing his very best to control the anger that seemed to radiate from him with each step he took, "I thought turning Barbara into a perfect wife for Ted was his payment for all the dirty work you had him do to undermine the league."

"What are you talking about," the tone had turned venomous, but both Batman's heard a distinct nervous waver hidden within.

Flicking his wrist, Terry flung a small, palm sized external drive, which Bruce deftly caught. "Wonder Woman was able to make herself look even more wondrous by rigging missions in her favor and setting Leaguers who got in the way to take the fall. All courtesy of the former Blue Beetle."

"Oh, really?" Bruce turned his head towards the princess.

"You can't prove a damn thing!" she screamed as she lunged towards the man she had come to regard as her archenemy.

Bruce tossed the external drive far off into the shadows in the opposite side of the room from Terry before catching the Princess's fist.

Terry, confident that Bruce could handle Wonder Woman, at least for a while, ran off in the direction the external drive was thrown, knowing what important evidence it was. As he dove into the shadow, he was surprised to run into an all too familiar figure that Bruce had not only been aware of, but had purposely thrown the drive to. The figure placed a hand on Terry's shoulder, motioning him to let Bruce and Diana duke it out for themselves.

"Like you told your Mom," the figure whispered, "enjoy the show."

From beneath his cowl, Terry smiled. This was the first time since this roller coaster began that he finally felt like everything was going to be all right.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

"Hey, what's that?" Dick asked, thankful for the distraction of the blinking red light on the consol of the bat-terminal.

Tim leaned in to study it closely. He typed in a few commands and ran a diagnostic. "The batsuit has been activated. Bruce can patch in to Terry's mask and communicate with him, as well as see exactly what it is that Terry sees."

Dick and Tim looked at each other, a thousand words passing between the silence, before flipping the switch that patched them in. They both gasped at the scene that lay before them.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Wonder Woman had dove at the cape-and-cowled Bruce in her blind anger, but now as their battled waged on, she realized that Bruce wasn't just her equal in this fight, but her superior.

Though she was also skilled in a wide variety of fighting techniques, it was her Amazonian strength that gave her an extra edge in a fight. She felt weaker and slower, barely dodging Bruce's attacks and clearly unable to affect him with her own. At first she was surprised, but now, she was even more angry then when she began.

She fought back with more vigor, but still didn't feel she was up to her usual strength and speed. She noticed most of Bruce's attacks were coming from his hands; he had not thrown any kicks.

"What's the matter?" Wonder Woman sneered, "Having trouble fighting without your cane?"

Bruce flashed a devilish smile from beneath his cowl. "I never needed a cane." He then executed a strong, spinning kick. It sent the surprised Princess flying several feet back.

Leaping to her feet, Wonder Woman tore a ceremonial spear off the wall. It was a struggle for her to do so and once it was in her hands, she immediately sank to the floor under its weight.

"Having problems, Diana?" Bruce asked as he slowly advanced towards her.

She tried to stand again with the spear, but again fell to the floor. She shot a wild-eyed look Bruce's way. She began releasing the spear to rise, but Bruce sent another hard kick her way. She sank back down, knowing she was defeated.

"Maybe you shouldn't take your bracelet's off?" Bruce suggested as he loomed over her.

The Princess paled visibly as she realized the bracelets currently around her wrists were decoys - that somehow, Bruce had managed to switch them without her knowledge.

"It's…It's impossible! How? When?" she sputtered as she continued to look at him in shock.

Bruce merely shook his head. "You didn't tie up all your loose ends, Princess. Now then, let's hear the whole story."

Anger contorted her features once again as she attempted to rise, but Bruce merely kicked her back down. He continued to do this several more times until she finally relented.

"Alright, alright!" she sat back on her haunches and wound her hands again around the spear, but it was out of habit and insecurity. Her head was down and her eyes were lowered as she spoke. "I did it all to get back at you," she then raised her eyes to meet the lenses in his cowl, "is that what you wanted to hear?"

From beneath his mask, Bruce furrowed his eyebrows. "Get back at me? For what?"

Her eyes narrowed. "For us."

"I'm not buying it, Diana. You broke it off with me, remember? You said we were too different."

"I… I lied to you," she lowered her head again and there was a long pause as she choked back tears she was insanely ashamed of. "I never meant to ever involve myself with a man in a relationship way. I was always proud to be an Amazon; to be a strong and independent. I had focus and vision. I didn't want that clouded or tainted by men."

Bruce was keenly aware that Diana's voice had changed in tone and pitch. She was finally telling the truth.

"I fell in love with Kal-El… I fell fast and hard," she began, sorrow edged in her voice. "I found myself embarrassed… ashamed… of these feelings…" she swallowed a large lump in her throat, "but they would not subside, only grow. Even when I came to terms that no other would turn his head save for one, which was not myself, the feelings would not yield."

Though her head was down, Bruce nodded, urging her to continue.

"For years, I wrestled with these feelings as they tortured me. Amazons do not often give into love of men, thus these feelings were foreign to me on many levels. Day and night I was tormented by these feelings. It molded me into a person I couldn't stop from becoming. I thought giving into my long abandoned ambitions… gaining power… would slake my thirst. It did little, but my hunger for power began growing to lust and the pain became a dull throb in my breast."

Bruce felt an odd tug on his own anger and recognized a small token of sympathy as he watched a normally proud and regal woman crumble before his very eyes. With each breath that left her body, she visibly withered further into the cold, marble floor.

"Somewhere in between… I met you," she continued. "There was something about you… I could see the man behind the mask, behind the pain. Though are situations were not entirely parallel, I identified with you… I thought we could erase each other's pain…"

She paused then. Though her head remained down, her eyelids flipped open and she turned her blue orbs all the way upwards to look at him. A silence came then in which both remembered their whirlwind romance.

"It started as a rivalry at first between you and I," she started, "I did respect you, but I was already a rule breaker, though unknown, and the League didn't have room for another. Of course, there was also my fierce allegiance to Kal-El. He had issue with you, so I had issue with you, at least I said I did," her stare did not waver as she continued. "It was a long road for you and me. We argued and fought each other off quite a bit, but the fire burned, none the less."

Bruce remembered his fall for the Princess quite well. He had identified with her and for a long time, he had secretly loved her. They had kept their relationship very quiet, but for that time in which they were together, they both felt a heavy weight lift. It wasn't all of the weight, but it was enough.

"I began to suspect that perhaps your feelings were not as true as mine," a muscle underneath her eye twitched slightly. "I feared that you could not abandoned the grip around your heart as I could. I doubted and I doubted, and slowly that drove me as mad as my feelings for Kal-El once did."

For those who knew the true Bruce, the real Bruce Wayne, deep conversations weren't always the easiest, but he was capable of them. He felt a pang of guilt at Diana's feelings, somehow thinking the blame lie with him for not being so easy to come to with such problems.

"And then, a very strange thing happened," her stare now wavered and she finally blinked. "There was a break in Kal-El's feelings for the mortal," she lowered her eyes once more and closed her lids. "In my foolishness, I left you, fearing there was no more road for us to travel. I pursued Kal-El, but he rejected me, knowing of our relationship. He said to me I was a wrong to have left a man I so obviously belonged with. But you wouldn't have me back, either. I had lost you both." Her eyebrows bunched together and her lips twisted, "I convinced myself that if it hadn't been for you, I would have had a chance with Kal-El. I blamed you for running my already bitter life. I wanted you to pay. I wanted you to pay so dearly…"

"So you destroyed Barbara's life?" he finally asked.

She lifted her eyes again to him. "I did think I was doing her a favor. I saw in her life, life I had long since stopped living. I thought you would squeeze it out of her as it had been squeezed out of me… that she would become bitter and lonely as I had. I could not sit back and watch you destroy another woman, especially when I learned of her child… and it fit so perfectly in my plan. I owed Ted for his services and it would hurt you to lose her."

"You spent your life in the service of saving others, yet you destroyed the friends that surrounded you? How could you let feelings of love and passion twist you, Diana?"

Her body crumpled lower into the floor. She had no answer as she was defeated, her sins lying bare in the darkened hall.

"Princess Diana of Themescyra," came a voice from the shadows.

Diana and Bruce turned to see Terry walk towards them. But, he had not been the one to utter Diana's name. It had been the man walking along side him.

Superman.


	16. Chapter 15

It's All Relative

Chapter 15: A Broken Princess

By Teala373

Diana's eyes widened in horror as the man she had spent a large portion of her life pining for walked toward her.

"You… you heard…" she breathed.

"Yes, Diana," Superman was trying to keep his anger in check as he held the small external drive in his hand. "I thought I knew you… I trusted you. Many people trusted you and placed their faith in you…"

The broken princess sniffled as tears began flowing down her face. She hadn't wanted her beloved Kal-El to see her like this, to know the truth that lie in her heart. She was mortified of how disgraced she was. She was no longer the strong woman who wielded so much power.

"You practically ran the High Counsel of the League, but now I see that the bureaucracy was false," Superman continued, "I am now exercising my power as chair to disband the counsel and have you permanently removed from the League," he paused to fix a pointed look at her, "I hope you make peace with your Gods before your time, Diana, because you do have much to answer for."

Diana felt something inside her shatter like glass. She was now beyond mortified. She was now becoming angry again. The rush of adrenalin in her veins, coupled with her refueled anger, gave Wonder Woman the burst of strength she needed. Gripping the spear tightly, she quickly rose to her feet and lunged forward at Bruce, intent on killing him.

Someone stepped in front of Bruce and grabbed the end of the spear, pushing back on it and countering Diana's momentum, thus halting the weapon in mid-motion. It happened so quickly, that the first synapse fired in Terry's brain was that it had to be Superman.

But it was not Superman… it was Barbara.

Diana stared back in shock at the woman who was countering her attack. Barbara, however, stared back in anger.

"You… you manipulative, evil, self-centered cow!" she spat, "I can't believe I trusted you!"

Tension ran high as the two continued to stare each other down, each pushing the spear forward with the same amount of force so that it only trembled slightly, but went in no direction. Finally, Superman stepped forward and grasped the center of the spear in his mighty fist, snapping it into two.

Diana went to open her mouth, but Barbara cut her off. "There is nothing left for you to say… except goodnight."

Dropping her end of the spear, Barbara began walking out of the room, both Batmans behind her.

"Diana," Superman began as he himself started to exit, "you will be asked to stand before your peers and recant your sins again." Not waiting to hear her rebuttal, he flew up to a window, opened it, and then disappeared into the night.

The Princess of Themescyra could do nothing but weep.

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Dick and Tim sat with mouths open in shock over the events they witnessed through Terry's mask. Tim finally cut the connection and looked towards Dick.

"So… you won the bet about Bruce not needing the cane, but I won the bet on Babs kickin' ass and taking names. Um, they cancel each other out, so we can just call it even."

Dick finally turned to meet his gaze, and a funny smile slowly took over his features. "I'm not calling anything even just yet."

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Terry had changed back into his civilian clothes and was now loading his family's luggage into the waiting cab. He stood impatiently by the open cab door for his mother, anxious to get away from the embassy. Holding a sleeping Matt in her arms, Barbara appeared to be talking to the shadows, but was in fact conversing with Bruce, still in his batsuit.

"I don't think I properly apologized," Barbara began softly, "I am very sorry for doubting you and trusting Diana so blindly."

"There is no need for apologizes, Barbara," though he was speaking with his 'Batman voice', it was soft and comforting, "the important thing is that we all go forward together."

She pursed her lips as she slowly swayed back and forth, afraid to wake up Matt. "I… I need time… there is still so much wrong in my head… memories…"

"I can help."

She smiled sadly. "I still need time… Dick and I got into an argument…"

"I believe you will find that situation alleviated."

"…and Terry…"

"We'll all help Terry."

Barbara made another attempt at a genuine smile. "Ok… I'll try…"

"That's all I'm asking. I will have a friend contact you tomorrow. Don't worry about Dick. I'll chain him up, if I have to."

Nodding, Barbara settled Matt in the cab before getting in. Terry closed her door and then jogged over to the shadows.

"I know what it took for you to come out like this. Thanks for coming after us."

"No, thank you for the research. I was completely banking on getting a confession. You got hard evidence."

Terry began rubbing the back of his neck, suddenly feeling awkward. "I, uh, I'll, ya know, help my mom through all the other stuff…"

"How are you doing with the 'other stuff'?"

"Well, no offense, but I was kind of relieved that you aren't my dad… I mean, you're great, and I like that we're partners, but…"

"I understand."

A silence, one of many that evening, hung in the air. Terry bid his mentor good-bye and jumped in the cab, thankful the driver was distracted enough by the sports game blaring over the radio to notice what he and his mom had been doing.

The drive back to the apartment seemed long. No words were spoken as Barbara and Terry were content to stare out the window, letting their minds drift away. Terry finally couldn't take the feeling building inside him much more and turned to address his mother.

"Mom, please try to work things out with Dick… eh, Dad…" he blurted out.

Barbara eyes widened as she turned towards him. "Wha-what?"

"Please, Mom," Terry pleaded, "please try. I… I want a real family this time… and I think you do, too. He loves you, you have to know that. You were all he talked about from the minute I met him. Don't throw that away…"

Reaching across the space between them, Barbara weaved her fingers in Terry's hair and brushed his unruly bangs back. "It will be okay this time. I promise."

Terry sighed as he settled back in his seat. It was the best answer he could have hoped for.


	17. Chapter 16

It's All Relative

Chapter 16: Loose Ends Tied

By Teala373

Princess Diana of Themescyra was charged with multiple counts of treason, conspiracy, man slaughter and fraud by Superman, with the former High Council at his side. Her termination from the League was reiterated and she was stripped of her title as Royal Ambassador of Themescyra to the United States or America. It was also determined that she would be deported to her home country for a ten-year sentence and answer to Queen Hipolyte for the high Themescryan crime of removing the Amazon bracelets.

Aquaman was found guilty as Woman Woman's accomplice. He admitted to helping Wonder Woman out of his vengeance for Batman, whom he never got along with. His sentence was permanent probation on the League, in which Martian Manhunter agreed to oversee.

Flash was acquitted of his accomplice charges due to his testimony, participation and being blackmailed. He was, however, placed on a minor probation and sternly lectured on coming forward with information should another situation arise.

The original Batman, who now revealed himself to the core members of the Justice League as Bruce Wayne, was given a formal apology and reinstated as an advisory member. Though he would no longer conduct field research or operations, he was considered a direct advisor to Superman, Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern, as well as assist from the his terminal.

Martian Manhunter helped Barbara separate her real memories from her false ones. Through several weeks of counseling and therapy, he was finally able to completely erase her false memories and complete reinstate all her real memories. During this time of rehabilitation, Barbara was confined to the Justice League Watchtower with a strict no visitor policy.

Dick didn't take that lying down.

First he sent chocolates. Then he sent flowers. Then he sent chocolates in the shape of flowers.

"These are the finest chocolates money can buy… all at Bruce's expense, of course," a card read, eliciting a giggle.

He sent care packages with books he thought she might like to read, puzzles, stuffed animals and an endless supply of Twinkies. He sent cards with pink hearts and gooey quotes. He sent necklaces made out of string and macaroni, like he used to make her when he was younger. Most importantly, he sent her long letters detailing how well a once fractured family had mended.

Bruce, Dick and Tim had started over again. They were a real family that talked and spent time together doing normal things in the real part of the house, not just the cave. Tim and Matt had begun forging a strong bond, as were Dick and Terry. The five men greatly enjoyed each other's company and discovering the joys of family. The pain of the past was washing away and the future finally seemed bright.

The apartment Manhunter had set Barbara up with in the Watchtower gave her peace, solace, and plenty of time to think during her rehabilitation as she read her letters. Yet, no matter how much Dick's constant mailings made her laugh or smile in sheer happiness, she was still filled with doubt and confusion on what she would so upon her return to Gotham.

Could life really be that simple? Could they just all be so blindingly happy together? Terry and Matt seemed to think so when they were allowed to call her, their voices filled with love and hope. They begged Manhunter to speed up her therapy so they could bring her home and share their happiness with her.

Home.

That word made Barbara uneasy. Where was her home? She didn't want to go back to her apartment in Gotham; that was where they had lived with Warren, who really wasn't Warren at all. That whole life had been a lie and she didn't want to be so constantly reminded of it by living there.

Wayne Manor? Was that her home? It certainly was big enough and with the way things seemed to be going, it was a distinct possibility. But she was scared to dream and to hope. She was afraid to go back and find Bruce unchanged, dark as he ever was. She was afraid that Tim would still be depressed. She was afraid Terry and Matt would lose what they had gained.

She was afraid that there was no third chance for her and Dick Grayson.

The doubts would not stop swirling around in her mind, no matter how hard she tried to concentrate on something else. She tried to focus solely on packing her belongings and making sure everything was in order before her departure, but the doubts kept creeping to the forefront of her mind.

"Barbara?"

She turned and smiled as Manhunter stood in the doorway. "Hello J'onn." He had trusted her with his name during their first session. He wanted to establish trust between them before he delved into her fragile mind.

"I am very proud of your progress," he stepped into the room and took the heavier of her two suitcases. "A lesser person may have broken, but you will leave here whole."

She felt a swell of emotion at his touching words and fought back a lump in her throat. "Thank you. That means a lot to me."

They exited the room and began walking down to the transporters. Several times, Barbara wondered if she should talk to Manhunter about her fears, but continually talked herself out of it.

Finally reaching the transporter, she stepped up on the lighted circle and said her good-byes.

"I am returning you to a destination that is of importance to your future," Manhunter stated as he started the machine.

"What do you mean?"

Manhunter turned his somber red eyes towards Barbara. "Go and live your life, Barbara. You deserve it."

In a bright flash of light, she left the Watchtower and found herself in a very unexpected place: Dick's original bedroom in Wayne manor.

It was still as it was when Dick had last lived there. It was almost as if it were a shrine to mark the period of silent grieving on Bruce's behalf. Barbara walked around, examining items with one hand over her mouth, afraid to let any tearful noises escape. Her eyes ran over pictures and posters, awards and accomplishments. When her eyes landed on Eleanor, she lost it.

Grasping the much beloved stuffed elephant to her chest, Barbara wept for several moments, remembering the loneliness and knowing how much more horrible it must have been for Bruce and Dick, and even Tim… and now Terry. They were all alone together, except the alone part was going away.

She finally left the room, Eleanor still securely snuggled against her. She headed for the stairs, wiping the tears from her eyes. She slowly descended the long, winding staircase, but when she reached the final landing, something made her look up.

Standing at the bottom of the stairs was a very grave looking Dick Grayson.

She froze and subconsciously bit her lip. Blood began to drain from her face, but she took a deep breath and willed herself to stay strong.

They stared at each other for several moments before Dick finally spoke. "I want you in my life, Barbara. I love you. I've always loved you, and I'm willing to do whatever it is you need from me to get it right this time. I'm not losing you again… I can't."

A fresh wave of tears cascaded forth as a choked breath escaped her lips. She had never seen Dick more serious or more sincere. Her doubts began to fly away as she all but ran down the last of the stairs and flew into his arms.

"Don't let go," she whispered, her face buried in his neck and Eleanor promptly squashed between them.

"Never, ever," he promised, "never again."

**XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx**

Bruce, Dick, Barbara, Tim, Terry and Matt had finally found a home, a family, and a wholeness that covered up the last of the lonely places in their hearts. Though Terry still continued to fight as Batman, he found a new vigor that came from truly helping people, and not fulfilling his own sense of vengeance. His success was so great that he was soon cordially invited to become a member of a very exclusive organization.

His grandfather was very proud of him.

fin


	18. Author's Notes

It's All Relative (IAR)

By Teala373

Author's Notes…

Hello! After a very long hiatus, IAR is finally finished! YAY! For those of you who have waited, I apologize – unfortunately, life just got in the way for a while.

IAR started out as a joke. When I first saw the previews for the Batman Beyond show, I mistakenly thought that Mary McGuiness was Barbara Gordon. I joked around with my on-line friends about my error and we kicked around the idea of Terry being Barbara and Dick's son. I love Dick Grayson and didn't like that he was MIA.

When I started writing the story, it took on a life of it's own and became much darker than I originally intended it to be. As I kept reviewing it (I wrote all the way up to Dick and Babs' misunderstanding and she runs away), I really hated a lot of what I wrote. I decided to completely over haul it and inserted Wonder Woman as a primary villain.

Normally, I am a huge Wonder Woman fan, but I thought it would be interesting to have her as a villain. Also, I was getting wicked writer's block on how to end the original story, plus I thought Babs' original excuse was lame. I thought there should have been more drama and double-crossing tied in with her absence. It wasn't the best plot fix, but it was fun to write.

Speaking of not being the best… IAR isn't the greatest story ever, nor do I think it is how BB should have been, but I thought it was different and fun.

Thank you for reading my story and thank you for all of your feedback. I would have never finished this without all of you.

Keep writing and reading,

Teala373 -


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